Cowgirl Yoga: Meet Mary Ann, Cancer Kickin' Cowgirl Extraordinaire

Mary Ann is a Breast Cancer Kickin’ Cowgirl, Health Activist, Author, President, Founder & CEO of The Get In Touch Foundation and Mother of Three Awesome Kids.

I’ve been riding this breast cancer bull for more than ten years now and most of the time I manage to hang on. On occasion, I get tossed but always, always get up!

My stage four recurrence three years ago means there is less time between getting tossed, but it also means I actually enjoy every single moment of the ride, no matter how wild it may be!

I like shoes. A lot.

But I LOVE cowgirl boots.

For six months I had chemotherapy treatment every single Wednesday and for the last two and a half years we’ve leveled off to treatment every three weeks.

I snapped a photo of my feet in the chemo chair for my first recurrence treatment three years ago and set off a firestorm with my Facebook friends and family; who knew they would be so anxious to see what a cancer-kickin’-cowgirl would wear to chemo??

Even the men in my life – friends and family – were able to “Like” or comment with an encouraging and snappy little response to my shoes when they weren’t able to summon the simpatico to do so about my cancer.

My goal of trying to make as many moments as possible “awesome” instead of “awful” for all of those deeply affected by my cancer was being realized in this kooky little way that made my beloveds smile instead of worry.

Seriously, what is better than that?!

I just knew I had to enter Big Sky Yoga Retreat’s Cowgirl Boot Contest last year and when I got the email congratulating me for being one of the winners I was literally walking into radiology to have an ultrasound on what turned out to be a fractured rib. The rib already has an interior metastases and a bad case of bronchitis was just too much for that poor little bugger – it snapped. Better him than me!

The radiology team was serious when they delivered the news I already knew. Honestly, I think they might have considered transferring me upstairs to the psych ward when I responded by saying, ‘yeah, yeah, I knew it was broken…but today is a great day, I just won a gorgeous pair of cowgirl boots!’

Silver lining, baby, if there is even a smidgeon of one poking through the darkest cloud, I’m going to find it and focus on it!