Jessica Guilbeau’s 40th year was one she’ll never forget. First, her father in law passed away after a long battle with Kidney Cancer. Then, her husband’s uncle was diagnosed with, and quickly succumbed to, Glioblastoma. Finally, she received her own diagnosis with Her 2 + Stage 2 Breast Cancer. “It was a really hard diagnosis to get, especially after we had just lost two family members to cancer,” she says. 

The diagnosis was just the beginning. Shortly afterwards, she was faced with an unexpected divorce and a complete upheaval of her life. “One of the hardest things about divorce is that you are forced into this position where you never saw yourself. Now, that’s your reality. I’m divorced.” Suddenly without her safety net, she was thrust into a world of trying to navigate her new household and custody arrangements while in the midst of cancer treatment herself.

She explains that time with a bit of sigh, and a far off look. “I was working as a dental assistant at the time, and I didn’t have benefits like short term disability or anything like that. With the divorce, I was on a single income. I didn’t know what I would do.” 

When she felt like she had hit rock bottom, she found that her church family were there to lift her up. “Sara Horn and some other ladies sold Jambalaya plates to support me when I was off work for my chemo, surgery, and radiation. They had a garage sale too. It was so inspiring seeing people’s gifts in action. One woman said “Well, I can’t cook, but I’m really good at organizing things.” Together, the events raised enough money to cover all my expenses for those two months that I was off work.”

She is now in remission, but takes daily medicine to keep her estrogen levels low to avoid feeding the cancer. “It’s something I’ll be on for several more years at least,” she explains. After finishing the more intense part of her treatment, she reluctantly decided to give dating a try. “I thought, who would want a woman who just finished cancer treatment?” she laughs. Her friends assured her that it wouldn’t be a problem.

She decided to go on a couple of “bad dates” just to get back in the game. She had very low expectations. The very first date ended up not being bad at all. After a lot of laughs and some shared experiences with their respective exes, Jessica realized that this man might just be someone she’d consider dating again. Reader, she married him. 

Now, they both look back at that time as transformative. Had she not gone through all that she did, she would never have ended up in the place she is now. A few weeks ago, she was talking to her new husband and he looked at her and said “I’m glad about it all. We have a great life. I’m glad that this is the way it all turned out.” 

Going through cancer and divorce has changed Jessica and taught her a lot of lessons. The biggest, she says, is that she knows now that you’re blessing other people by giving them a chance to help you. “No one wants to ask for help, and everyone wants to think they’re strong enough on their own, but if you give people the chance to help, you give them the opportunity to lean into their own gifts and grow. It reminds us that we’re all part of a community. We need each other.”