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Longtime Atlanta activist gets real about her breast cancer battle
Elisabeth Omilami breaks down what it was like being diagnosed with breast cancer and details her new efforts to help women in the state overcome the same diagnosis.
ATLANTA - The CEO of Hosea Helps has spent her life helping others, but Elisabeth Omalami was forced to take a step back to get some help of her own following an unfortunate medical diagnosis.
The 70-year-old Hosea Helps CEO says she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer back in July.
"They did a sonogram and they saw a lump on the right breast and then they saw two more, then they saw something in the lymph nodes and it was stage three breast cancer," Mrs. Omalami revealed.
The jarring diagnosis required a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. She candidly admits the disease has been debilitating at times. She talked about her family.
"You can't explain to them the pain in the night, the pain in the bones. The chemo brain confusion where you can't remember anything. I was flat on my back and couldn't get up and that's when it hit me, I have breast cancer," the community Advocate confessed.
The wife, actress, mother, and grandmother says that is when she connected with God.
"Wasn't really a religious person, wasn't attending church, felt distant from God. I always found God in the work. Now I couldn't work and I had to face God alone. Just me and him, her," she said.
Ms. Omilami is back on her feet and rehearsing for an upcoming performance with True Colors. She credits a friend in Hiram for preparing her for this journey.
"You're gonna lose your hair. Everything will start to taste like metal. Food will taste like leather. Bone pain, not able to sleep at night. Everything she said to me happened," Mrs. Omilami reported.
Ms. Omilami now wants to help other women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The visionary is planning to expand services at Hosea Helps to provide free mammograms and other resources.