OCTOBER 2017 12 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM “When you’re in it, you will dive deep into the abyss that we all have inside us and you will find that strength, you will find whatever it is it takes to get you where you need to go,” Schnitzer said. “That was a big awakening for me, in really realizing that we all have the strength, the ability to have the mindset. We all have the ability to overcome when we dive into the abyss.” A religious woman, Schnitzer recalls being angry at God and asking why this was happening to her, a new mother who had taken care of her health her whole life. Then, she had a moment of clarity. She realized “nothing happens by chance and God chose me to have this for whatever the reason is, he chose me to have this,” she said. “And I had to own it and I had to be graceful with it and say, whatever it is I need to learn from this, whatever I need to take from this, I’m open and I accept it. The moment I did that it was like, okay, alright, let’s just get through it. “ Schnitzer likes to share a lesson she learned about living with cancer with anyone who is facing a challenge, whether it is medical, personal or professional; a nugget that you can apply to almost anything in life. “When you’re diagnosed with something, the immediate thing that comes to mind, the immediate feeling you get is fear,” she said. “Fear is a huge component of why people don’t move forward. You can choose to fall victim to fear and allow yourself to curl up into a ball and not deal with it or you can choose to embrace fear and say, ‘take me where you need to take me.’ What fear is is opportunity. It’s a way to things much bigger than you ever thought you were capable of fulfilling. And in this case, I had no idea where my diagnosis was going to take me. I had a baby, for crying out loud. I had to live with the idea that I possibly may not be here to see her grow, to see her become a woman. So I had to live for that moment that could happen.” But at the same time, she had to prepare for worst-case scenario. She said, however, that she wasn’t going to let it put her in a ball, close herself off to the world and allow herself to become a prisoner of fear. “Fear is the unknown. It’s not knowing what’s behind door number one, or two, or three. But you have to find within yourself the courage to rise above that, and embrace it, and say, ‘Okay, take me where I need to go.’” How would she react if she were to face terminal illness, then? “You don’t know until that actually happens, but if that’s the case, then that’s the case,” Schnitzer said. “But don’t let it cripple you. Don’t let it take you over because even after death, there’s unknowns. You don’t know what’s behind that door.” For her, her battle was “carrying this torch, and letting it shine, and being vulnerable to the people around me and saying, ‘We may not know what lies ahead of us but I’m going to fight and I’m going to hope and I’m going to show all of you that you all have this strength, you all have what it takes.’” COVER STORY CONTINUED

OCTOBER 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 13 “Fear is the unknown. It’s not knowing what’s behind door number one, or two, or three. But you have to find within yourself the courage to rise above that, and embrace it, and say, ‘Okay, take me where I need to go.’”