EDGEWOOD, Ky. — While National Cancer Survivors day was Sunday, there was a celebration Monday in northern Kentucky.

Survivors of all different cancers connected, celebrated their strength and provided support to one another. One survivor was front and center, even though she would’ve preferred not to be, because she felt a calling.

Trish Boh doesn’t love being the center of attention. But for St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s National Cancer Survivors Day, she talked to as many people as she could.

“God put me here for a reason. He put me with this team for a reason. And now I just have to do something important with it,” she said.

Boh is the executive assistant for St. Elizabeth’s Cancer program. She and her team stood at a table set up in the Cancer Center’s lobby, informing patients about some of the free services the center offers.

The integrative oncology department features complimentary massage therapy, yoga, acupuncture, essential oils, art and music therapy, as well as cooking lessons.

The team also handed out things like flower seeds, cookies and bracelets to celebrate survivors and remember those taken by cancer.

“It’s just our way to thank and honor our patients and our caregivers. Let them know that we’re part of this journey with them,” Boh said.

This was Boh’s second National Cancer Survivors Day spent not just as a St. Elizabeth employee, but as a survivor herself.

Of all the ribbons on a chart set up by her group’s table serving as awareness symbols for different varieties of cancer, the pink one meant most to Boh.

“In Nov. 2019 I found a lump on a self exam in my left breast. Went to my doctor, ordered a mammogram, couldn’t find anything on the mammogram, said ‘Let’s just monitor it,’” Boh said.

Through 2020, two more mammograms didn’t find any cancer.

“I felt the tumor was getting bigger, or at least the spot, not knowing it was a tumor at that time. And I was experiencing some very sharp pains. So I was just listening to my body, and said something is not right,” she said.

Fortunately, Boh had a doctor who listened. An MRI found breast cancer in Dec. 2020, three days before her birthday.

“I was turning 46 at the time, and my mother was 46 when she found her first breast cancer. So it was very shaking,” she said.

In Jan. 2021, the tumor was surgically removed. A few months of radiation treatment followed.

As of the writing of this article, Boh is cancer-free thanks to the quick action taken by the people she goes to work with every day.

“You have a work family. This is my tribe. I couldn’t have gotten through without them,” she said, hugging her teammates. 

Along with her work family, Boh’s actual family includes her twin 17-year-olds. They’re the reason she spent Monday trying to convince as many people as possible to be advocates for themselves when something doesn’t feel right.

“It is important for me, especially for my daughter, to share my story, to try to be a good role model for her, and to teach her that it’s important to do your self exams, to get your regular checkups, and your mammograms, to advocate for yourself when you feel like something is not right,” Boh said. “Don’t take no, or it’s nothing, for an answer. You know your body better than anybody else does. So if you feel like somebody’s not listening to you, just keep talking until somebody does.”

Boh said she’s grateful to have received the same compassion she and her team try to give everyone who walks into the center.

“If I touch just one person, standing here with my nerves shaking and my stomach all aflutter, then it’s worth those few minutes,” she said.

According to St. Elizabeth, cancer in Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati area affects thousands each year, with about 30,000 Kentuckians, 73,000 Ohioans and 39,000 Hoosiers facing a cancer diagnosis in 2022, numbers far above the national average. 

Thanks to major advances in cancer prevention, early detection and targeted treatments, many patients are living longer with cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, there are over 43 million cancer survivors worldwide. 

St. Elizabeth offers survivorship planning to all patients facing a cancer diagnosis. Visit stelizabeth.com/mycancer to learn more.