Forever in our Hearts

Stacie Chevrier died Monday, August 17, 2020 after a six-year, stage 4 valiant battle with pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. She prided herself on being an expert planner and scribed her obituary months ago.

Stacie enjoyed living life on her own terms and loved nothing more than traveling the globe with her husband and soulmate. During her school years, she was a bit of a wild child amidst a chaotic family life. These years shaped her ambition to make a better life for herself, and so she did.

Her biggest life accomplishments were saying yes to being her soulmate’s life partner, running a marathon, walking el Camino de Santiago for 500 miles across Spain with treasured friend Kevin Keystone, and completing a ten-day silent vipassana meditation course where she learned that much could be attained through persistence, practice, breath, and compassion towards others and one’s self.

Stacie loved yoga, traveling, writing, reading, trashy Bravo shows, spicy food, lululemon tights, her iPhone, Joe Rogan’s podcast, puppies, planning vacations, running, hiking, the beach, Captain and Cokes, baths, the TV show Mad Men, the movie the Notebook, stand-up comedy, Paris, taking pictures of her in-laws when they fell asleep on vacation, and her furry children Bear, Cally, and Jasmine. She has fond memories of spending summers with her cousins Amy and Amanda.

She is survived by four wonderful and loving brothers, Curtis Foster, Thomas Chevrier, Jonathan and Jimmy Piscopink, two nephews, Shea Foster and Bastien Chevrier, her mother Michele Piscopink, the world’s best in-laws consisting of the families Godin and Chevrier throughout France, her loyal and loving service dog, Jasmine, whom she acquired through Retrieving Independence in Nashville, TN, her close friends she considered sisters, Nicole (Ellis) Freers, Lara Pierce and Holly (Billiter) Snively, and her soulmate and the love of her life, Fabien Chevrier.

She was preceded in death by her Papa Eugene, her Uncle Curtis, her father Bill, and her beloved German Shepherd, Bear.

She was blessed with droves of family and friends who cheered for her during her illness including doctors Edward Wolin (New York, NY), Eric Liu (Denver, CO), Philip Philip (Detroit, MI), and Jordan Berlin and Satya Das (both of Vanderbilt University Medical Center) and many other doctors, nurses, medical professionals and non-profits raising awareness around rare Neuroendocrine tumors.

When she met Fabien in 2009, her world turned to Technicolor. She gladly followed him throughout Asia and Europe and he overachieved at being her caregiver.

Her only regret is not having more time with her husband but forever would not have been long enough.

Donations in her memory can be made to “Stacie’s Scholarship” at Retrieving Independence.

From Stacie’s loved ones:  Although she is gone, she is forever in our hearts.  She touched so many lives during her short time on earth.  Stacie was grateful for every life experience and viewed everything as a new adventure.  As she laid knowing the end was near, she said, “I’m excited to see what’s on the other side.”  May we all take a piece of Stacie’s grace, wisdom, optimism and enlightenment with us every day on our journey through life.  RIP Stacie.  Forever Young.  Forever Beautiful.  We love you so much!

World Cancer Day

February 4th is World Cancer Day.

I have mixed emotions about these “holidays”. Part of me thinks they’re important to acknowledge what we’ve endured, those we’ve lost and how far we’ve come. The other part of me hates that I even know about World Cancer Day and have yet to figure out the greatest epidemic in human history when we walk around with computers in our pockets, shoot cars into space and create lab grown meat. But, I’m also grateful to be living with neuroendocrine cancer now and not 20 years ago.

Since I was diagnosed in 2014 nearly every drug responsible for keeping me here wasn’t even an option. In fact, this afternoon I’m heading to the cancer center for my Lanreotide injection – a medicine that keeps my symptoms in check and was FDA approved three months after my initial diagnosis.

With some luck, I’ll be able to make it through cross town traffic to my yoga class to sweat, breathe and move in a way foreign to even the healthiest of people. At the end of class, as I always so, I’ll thank my body for giving me another day.

In honor of World Cancer Day, I’d like to take the opportunity to share this little video I put together for Neuroendocrine Cancer Awareness Day (November 10th).

Cheers to Outliving It another year!

Rekindling My Relationship With Marijuana

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As featured in Conquer magazine

This is my first piece with Conquer magazine and one I wrote with hesitation. Not only did I fear judgement, but worried if there would be any legal consequences considering I live in one of the 18 states where medical marijuana is not legal. As I considered these points, I remembered…I don’t care what the law states. When it comes to my health, happiness and productivity, I’ll do whatever it takes (but know that I fully expect someone to start a GoFundMe for bail if I find myself in trouble with this).

I know that marijuana helping cancer patients isn’t breaking news, but it was a game changer for me. My hope is that sharing my story can open someone’s eyes and mind to thinking outside the standard box of pharmaceuticals to improve their quality of life.

Read Rekindling My Relationship With Marijuana here.

In conjunction, Conquer put together this piece on navigating the ever-changing laws regarding medical marijuana: (Almost) Everything You Wanted to Know About Medical Marijuana, but Were Afraid to Ask