Rachel Engstrom
Rachel Engstrom is a young woman who has survived one of the toughest tragedies one can face in life, that has come out on the other side wanting to help others. She lives in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area with her family and beloved dog Greta. By day she helps consumers get connected to mental health and substance abuse services, and on evenings and weekends she is a podcast guest, guest blog writer, and volunteer, when not spending time with family or friends. She’s the author of “Wife, Widow, Now What?”
In today’s episode, Rachel shares her journey navigating the cancer world and ultimately writing her memoir, “Wife, Widow, Now What?” When Rachel was 28 years old, her husband was diagnosed with leukemia. What they thought was the flu after working too many hours, turned out to be the life altering illness that would forever change everything they knew. Rachel became a cancer wife, manager, team cheerleader and expert juggler at life, while supporting her husband throughout his illness, until he died two days after she turned 31. She had to reboot her life and learn how to start over as a widow, without a map or guidebook to lead her. Rachel's humor, moxie and faith helped get her through the cancer world, and survive the calamity of errors that kept-on coming after he died. Today, Rachel’s hope is to provide you with some laughter, comfort, solace and guidance on your own journey, whether it be through the world of cancer, or any other life challenges.
“Right now, what you’re going through - if you’re going through something difficult or you have or will go through something difficult - more than likely you’re getting nuggets of gold that you probably won’t understand for quite some time. Whether these experiences, no matter how awful they are, lead you to have a new career, volunteer, or just be able to say to somebody I get it, I’ve been there, that is more valuable than anything that we have in life.”
Tune in on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bZHrtjAzbksbLWNaak1NM
Tune in on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-of-inspiring-joy/id1510488632
To learn more and connect with Rachel visit her on Instagram @wifewidownowwhat Facebook @wife.widow.now.what and you can find her book on Amazon here
Stories of Inspiring Joy is a production of Seek The Joy Media and created by Sydney Weiss. To learn more and submit your story, click here.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Stories of Inspiring Joy.