Where it all began
Hello everyone!
My name is Tiana. I grew up in a beautiful place in Hawaii, and I worked in the healthcare field for 8 years in the oncology unit. I have held the hands of many who took their last breath after telling me all the things they wish they did. I realized that though I enjoyed caring for others, I followed my passion. I decided to quit working at the hospital and dove straight into digital design. I started off creating digital designs for tangible items like greeting cards, t-shirts, decals, etc… Shortly after leaving my full-time job, I applied to obtain my degree in website design and development, and I decided to blog about it. I went ahead and created a website and a few blog entries, and I gave up after a few months due to being impatient.
I continued to figure out what I was meant to do. I continued to workday and night until the day I went to an appointment for a routine checkup and discovered that I have metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma. That was a fast, slow awakening moment in my life. I found out that this cancer was so slow-growing, I had it for about 10 years. The surgery went as planned, though I had a rare complication that put me in critical condition and a week's stay in the hospital. There I was, 30 years young, worried about whether I was going to live or die, and looking back at the last ten years, wondering what I did. What did I accomplish? Am I where I want to be 10 years later?
I decided that if I were to survive, I wouldn’t waste another ten years, and since then, I have worked harder than I have before, and I feel the drive and passion in everything that I do.
I recently had to undergo radiation during the 2022 holiday season, and it was terrifying and stressful, but this only added fuel to my fire. I am recovering fine with slight day-to-day aches and pains and will be doing a follow-up scan in the next few months.
I am happy to say that despite the hurdles, we have had a very successful 2024 thanks to all of you! My wife and I work hand and hand with our beautiful baby girl (who is about to be three! 😢) and enjoy every moment of every day, and we are so excited for our future.
Tiana
