Stage-4 Cancer to Level 3 Life Coaching: Lena’s Mission to Spread Wellbeing

Five years ago, if you had asked Lena if she ever envisioned herself as a life coach, she would have emphatically said, “No!”

The hardworking senior outsourcing manager was flying all over the world for her job. A shock diagnosis of stage 4 cancer forced her to re-evaluate her life, but she has now come back stronger than ever as a life coach.

So, sit back, and get ready to be inspired by Lena’s experience on our Life Coaching Diploma Level 3.

Life after Diagnosis

“I wasn’t working before I started the course, because I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer,” Lena explains. “So I left work as a result of everything that was going on. I was a senior outsourcing manager and my work meant travelling abroad quite a lot, so I had to leave because of how poorly I became.”

As Lena’s life marched on during her cancer treatment, she experienced life-changing support from the health professionals around her.

“I’ve had quite a lot of reconstructive surgery, a lot of counselling, and a lot of life coaching as part of my treatment,” she says. “The counselling helped me massively.”

After experiencing the healing effects of counselling, and seeing first-hand the impact of life coaching on rebuilding her own confidence post-treatment, Lena began researching her next steps.

Lena the Life Coach?

“The counselling did help me, but I felt like I couldn’t be a counsellor, I would take it too personally!” laughs Lena, going on to share: “But then I thought about the coaching, and realised I would actually be good at this because I have an HR background as well. When I was Senior Outsourcing Manager, that was part of my job, not personal coaching, but business coaching. I thought ‘I could do this!'”

When asked what inspired her to chase life coaching as her new career goal, Lena explained “The whole reason I started this was because so many people made a difference in my life and in my journey. The coaching and counselling that I received was invaluable.” She said, “The medics know what to do to get you to survive, but it was the coaching and counselling that actually got me back on my feet.”

Lena would like to go on and offer life coaching to fellow cancer patients free of charge, to offer hope and encouragement that life won’t always be this way. “I don’t even want a contribution, even if I only see one client a day, that’s enough for me.” Explaining her business plan, she continued “Cancer patients will never pay, but I would also like to take on regular clients, for instance out of seven clients, maybe four would receive free counselling and three might pay.”

Life Coaching Diploma Level 3

After deciding to shift her career focus to life coaching, Lena enrolled on our Life Coaching Diploma Level 3. Lena took to online learning like a duck to water, and felt that the system was suited to her needs.

“I think it’s a really easy system to use, it’s very informative! I’ve got a degree in HR so I’ve been a complete novice at things like referencing, but there’s information about how to do everything, so I thought that was really good. I think if I had come onto this course without any prior knowledge of anything, all the information was available.”

As she worked through the units and submitted her coursework, Lena got a better idea of the online portal and how to use it to her advantage. “I think the portal itself, when you’re writing, breaks down all of the questions really well,” she explained “I really like the portal, actually! I liked how you were notified that your results were in as well, so you’re not having to keep logging in to check if they’re in yet.”

With the support of her tutor, Mark, Lena flew through the course in no-time, thanks to Mark’s quick marking (no pun intended!).

“Mark was absolutely excellent. He marked my work within 24 hours of my submitting it. His feedback was always fair, he was really informative, and he always gave me some really good further reading to do! He’s truly good at what he does. He was always encouraging me to include more of my opinions, and even though it was it was only email contact, I felt like I could relate to him and he really did help me. I loved the way he fed back, both positively and constructively.”

Lena’s lifelong love for learning helped her power through, even when her illness wanted to keep her down. “Towards the end of December until about the end of March, I just couldn’t do anything, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to study, or wasn’t motivated, or couldn’t fit it in. I was just feeling really bad at that time. The winter had kicked in, and my body was hurting me.” However, Lena pushed on, achieving her qualification by the beginning of the summer, making her achievement all the sweeter.

“I always think knowledge is power. The more you know, the more you can help people.” Lena said. “I think everything you know can only help you and your loved ones. Like I said, I’ve always done coaching in one way or another, and I think that one of the biggest reasons I did this was because I didn’t want to do any injustice to any cancer patient, because they’ve already been through enough. I didn’t want to lead anyone up a garden path without knowing that I was doing the right thing for them. This course has confirmed to me that I am doing the right thing, and I’ll use what I’ve learned every day.”

We can’t wait to catch up with Lena in the near future and witness the progress she’s made in her life coaching journey! Her story is a testament to her unwavering strength and thirst for knowledge. She’s fearlessly conquered every obstacle that has dared to stand in her path, leaving us proud to call her one of our students.