Juanita Segura was born and raised right here in the Region, and she still resides in her hometown of East Chicago, Indiana. She’ll observe her cancerversary this November, as it’s been almost exactly 10 years since she was diagnosed with lung cancer. The journey that followed her diagnosis hasn’t been straightforward, and it’s been more difficult than anything, which shows the resilience of her spirit.
Around the same time, she started doing CrossFit. Segura was in the best shape of her life at the end of 2013. She would exercise frequently, driving herself out to Crown Point to use certain facilities. Once the summer months arrived—June in particular—she suddenly noticed she was wheezing a lot. A friend of hers soon took notice and recommended that she get for herself an inhaler, though she doesn’t have asthma. The object helped for a while, but then she developed a harsh cough that wouldn’t go away, and the wheezing worsened. Doctors were notified and visited, but the problem couldn’t be immediately pinpointed.
Segura did have an X-ray done, one that caught the attention of one of the doctors with whom she had an appointment. It was Thursday when she found out, according to this doctor, that the right side of her lungs was seemingly more inflamed than her left side, yet all that was prescribed to her after this discovery was merely more asthma medication. Then Saturday came around, and she went to work.
Back in those days, she served as an emergency-preparedness coordinator for the city of East Chicago. She was set up at a table at an event in town, wearing a mask and coughing viciously and uncontrollably, when two older ladies who saw her struggle approached her with second opinions: she needed to go to the ER urgently, despite what doctors had told her.
As soon as she was at the hospital again, nothing given to Segura alleviated her pain; her cough wasn’t going away, no matter what. In those moments, she worried about many different things that could have been the cause of her affliction. She wondered if it could’ve been this tropical bird she helped her Puerto Rican mother take care of since she knew people surrounded by those types of animals had become ill due to sneaky flare-ups of adverse fungi.
Shortly thereafter, one of her numerous pulmonary specialists revealed something heartbreaking. On a monitor, he displayed her lungs, and she saw that something was pressing against them; there was fluid underneath. Her anxiety then peaked. He alerted her that a bronchoscopy was in order, and within days, she underwent one.
“I was not thinking of cancer. The word wasn’t even in my vocabulary. The day came for my bronchoscopy, and they did what they had to do. I remember waking up, and I heard my doctor say, ‘Lesions,’” she said. “That’s when the cancer hit me.”
Breaking the news of her diagnosis to her family was an extreme challenge for Segura. It required loads of willpower, much of which she simply didn’t have. On top of that, she was physically weak. Those were confusing times, but she remained positive when tackling her condition. A conversation in the shower with the entity she refers to as the Divine Creator assisted her in her decision to keep moving forward, even in the face of uncertainty.
“I was in the shower after seeing the doctor. I remember saying to myself, ‘Whatever happens, whatever results I get, I’m going to get through this because I am not going anywhere, and I am not leaving my kids. If you chose me for this, Divine Creator, you chose the wrong one and the right one. I will see my kids grow up, I will meet grandchildren, and I am going to do what I want,’” she said.
Segura received overwhelming amounts of love and support from her friends and family after being diagnosed. The news was initially hard to break to all of her children. What’s always been a constant in her story, however, has been this fighting-back sense of determination she possesses. She knew she had available to her the advanced treatment centers located in Chicago. Her loved ones right at home also constantly left the door of her room revolving with all their visits.
Segura’s husband has always been a rock on her behalf throughout her journey with cancer, staying up into the early hours of the morning to do all the relevant research regarding recovery. The two of them were originally against chemo, but she wound up giving in to its helpfulness. At first, it unfortunately affected her ability to get down food, altering her appetite, but surely her husband was there caring for her all the while. He would provide her with protein shakes and anything else she could stomach, and her brother was regularly there, too, to advise and look out for her well-being.
Still, Segura’s children struggled through the ramifications of what it meant to experience a life with an ailing mother. Their reactions and attitudes reflected their inner thoughts. They were unsure about their mother’s future. There were dark nights through which she had to attempt to sleep, and she was almost broken on lots of them. The thing that kept her hanging on again was her eagerness to stay strong.
“I was lying in bed one night, crying. I thought I couldn’t do it anymore. My son was sleeping nearby, and I said out loud, ‘I can't do this. I am not going to live like this. Just take me.’ I looked over to my son as he woke up to that, and then said I hadn’t meant it, because the look on his face said so much,” she said. “I said instead, ‘I’m going to fight, and I’m going to give it my all.’”
Segura used to keep up with video blogs of her own to record her progress. One of them once reached a wide audience and went viral, with thousands of strangers and outsiders reaching out with words of encouragement. The love, then, not only poured in from those close to her but from people unfamiliar as well. Because of experiences like these, she’s chosen to be proactive about what she’s dealing with, not wallow in sadness at its harshness.
Continuing to undergo treatments, Segura is not fully healed, but she’s a fighter who doesn’t quit. Instead of letting cancer dominate her, she’s decided to lean into doing advocacy work in recent years. She writes articles for lungcancer.net, has been invited to participate in several of Pfizer’s annual lung-cancer conferences, and she’s appeared on Dr. Phil, distributing her story widely. She’s even collaborated with the Department of Defense on their lung cancer research efforts, as well as LUNGevity, an organization exclusively devoted to the fight against lung cancer.
“I’m not a public speaker, but I’ve been sharing my story and what it’s meant for me. I’m more of the funny one, and so I’m making people laugh and making people cry,” she said. “This has been my story, and this is how I am.”
Segura has opened her heart to others, and nowadays, she’s committed to combating lung cancer in any way she can. Her doing so has taken her far and wide, even to countries abroad. As of today, she has her eyes set on branching out and seeks to advocate for suicide prevention, her daughter having once faced complications related to the mental health issue. Life, especially embracing its blessings and being there for others, is what strengthens her most now.
“Life could be hard, but at the same time, life is beautiful. Trust it. Trust the process,” she said. “I believe I’ve found my purpose in helping people.”
