In 2003, Kris Carr was diagnosed with a rare and incurable Stage 4 cancer, beginning a fight she would later document in the moving documentary "Crazy Sexy Cancer." Ten years after her diagnosis, she's still living with the disease and thriving. In the above video from "Super Soul Sunday," she reflects on how cancer led her on the most transformational journey of her life.
"Ten years ago the fearful side of myself might have said I wouldn't be here, because when I was diagnosed with a stage 4 cancer I was told that I had only 10 years to live," Carr says. "But then there was a side of myself, the fighting side of myself, the loving side of myself, that decided to reject that information and to get busy living."
Carr says she had to give up thinking, "Until they say I'm perfectly healthy, I am broken." She says, "I looked around and decided that was a dragon that I would be chasing my entire life if I didn't change my thinking. Because I may never be healthy on paper, but I am well."
Carr has epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE), a vascular cancer in the lining of the blood vessels.
Carr's 10-year checkup was this year, which she says she felt pretty anxious about. "I got some really shocking news," she says. "I found out that my tumors had started to shrink and I was just so joyful. I had released my need to be in remission for my own mental well-being. I had worked on truly loving what is, all parts of myself whether there were tumors or not."
Carr was diagnosed with epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE), a vascular cancer in the lining of the blood vessels, at age 31.
"Life is a terminal condition. We're all going to die," Carr reminds us. "But how many of us will truly live, and live for ourselves first and foremost? Not for your spouse, not for your parent, not for your career, not for your illness, but live for you. That's the golden ticket."
"Super Soul Sunday" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on OWN.
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