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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 85 I was actually stage 3." Even though this was a shock, she remained positive, not only throughout her treatment process but also at work. "By that point, I thought, 'Let's do this. I'll beat this,'" she said. It helped that Delgado had worked hard until her diagnosis to set up a healthy sales pipeline and had built her strategy around what she was going to take up and what she wouldn't until her health improved. "I opted to put foundational sales—such as building websites, social media presences, etc.— on hold until after the treatment. I decided to focus on my clients and my existing sales pipeline but not to add any more firms," she said. THE ROAD TO RECOVERY It's been a little more than a year after that fateful July evening. Today, Delgado is in complete remission. She's completed 2 surgeries and chemo, as well as radiation. Her HER2 blocker infusions will end in September, and after that, she will start with one medication for a year. Over this past year of tribulations, Delgado says that she's not only developed her sense of humor but has also learned that she's capable of handling much more than she thought was possible. "e most important thing I've learned is that we have a choice. When I was going through the worst of it all, I could have buried myself in my room. I could have not worked. I could have felt sorry for myself. But I didn't," she said. "Cancer had taken so much from me; those were the things I couldn't control. I decided I wouldn't allow it to take away the things that I could control—my business, my happiness." GIVING BACK Delgado told DS News she now plans to begin working on a charity to support patients like her to get resources she found helpful during her treatment processes. However, organizing charity fundraisers isn't unfamiliar territory for Delgado. She founded the Puerto Rico Project HOPE after she realized that her efforts to help aid the hurricane-impacted island could reach a much wider audience if she partnered with others. "I was worried after Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico," she said. "I had family there, and I knew there was a lot of confusion and that aid wasn't reaching the people on the island." Delgado said she invited her extended circle of friends and colleagues to join the group and create a "virtual hope box" containing useful items such as water filtration systems, batteries, solar-powered cell phone chargers, solar-powered lanterns, food, first aid, and other necessities. e idea was that each person participating in this campaign would be the captain of their fundraising for the number of hope boxes they wished to send to the families. Delgado would then take those supplies to the island and deliver them personally to the families who needed them. Under her new charity initiative, these hope boxes will now be distributed to cancer patients, although the contents will be different. "You would be surprised at the amount of information you don't get," Delgado said. "Before my surgery, for example, I just researched and Googled and thought of things that would be helpful. About 90% of the things that I purchased were super helpful." Delgado said that when she showed the items she found to her surgical oncologist, the doctor had never seen most of it before. She offered the example of a "shower shirt," a garment designed to allow a patient to enjoy the comfort of a shower, even if they need to protect their torso from getting wet. "at's such a big deal for someone who's gone through a mastectomy because otherwise you have to shower with towels, and doing that for a month is awful." Delgado said that she plans to call these new iterations of her hope chests "battle boxes." In the first phase, Delgado plans to give items for breast cancer patients who undergo surgery. Each box will cost approximately $500. Going forward, she plans to introduce these boxes for patients undergoing chemo as well as those with special needs such as pregnant women. She plans to raise around $5,000 per month in the first phase to get all those patients battle boxes before they go into surgery. e box will also contain easily digestible information about their diagnosis and the next steps. "I just want to make it a better, easier, less painful experience for those going through this in the future," she said. Editor's Note: Leisha Delgado is of no relation to Five Star Global President & CEO Ed Delgado. " e most important thing I've learned is that we have a choice. When I was going through the worst of it all, I could have buried myself in my room. I could have not worked. I could have felt sorry for myself. But I didn't. Cancer had taken so much from me; those were the things I couldn't control. I decided I wouldn't allow it to take away the things that I could control—my business, my happiness."

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