Cancer Forces You to Look Inward – Episode 357

Health, Hope & Inspiration

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Featuring: Barbetta Neil

Published: March 11, 2023

I realized there was more in me than outside of me.

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Show Notes:

Joining host Rev. Percy McCray is 30-year friend, educator, gospel singer, and breast cancer survivor Barbetta Neil. Diagnosed almost two decades ago and now with no evidence of disease, Neil returns to the show to share how her cancer journey changed how see saw herself.

“At first, the way I would look at myself, I had to realize that I am more than just this outer shell and I had to tap into that and realize that there was more in me than there is outside of me,” she says.

Neil passionately shares her revelation of how small certain things in life become after experiencing a cancer scare and how she emerged to become a well-rounded woman of passion, purpose and calling.

She talks about how being initially diagnosed with cancer could not deter her from fulfilling her singing obligations at her local church. 

“We were getting ready to open up a church,” she says. “And I was going to be the minister of music. And then all of a sudden, I get this diagnosis with cancer, as though that was going to stop me. One week after my surgery I was leading praise and worship in our first service.”

Quotes:

  • “You had no idea how strong you were until you had to deal with this.”
  • “[As a singer] the songs that you’re singing now mean so much more because it’s your own personal testimony.”
  • “This stuff is real, this ain’t no plaything.”

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