"I have a bubbly personality. I just made the best out of it."
With that attitude and that smile, Trinisa Chriscoe Brown took on the fight for her life last year.
It started with a suspicious mammogram last September.
"Nobody in my family, in my blood line has ever had breast cancer so we've had cysts, fatty tumors so I'm thinking it's nothing."
"If you can get me those registrations sheets."
Then the busy educator, Dean of Culture at City Neighbors Charter School got a phone call that would change her life forever.
"You tested positive for cancer cells. At this desk, I fell apart, started crying, didn't know what who to call, didn't know what to do, had not even started to imagine this would be the results."
Triple negative breast cancer, a diagnosis that would bring anyone to tears. But still it hadn't sunk in for Chriscoe-Brown she was a new grandmother and living her best life.
"When I met with her, I was like oh, I've gotta have surgery, oh I can do that, can I take a vacation first?"
Even though it wasn't part of her plan, she took on cancer like a champ, a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. She went back to school part-time in January.
"I went to each class and I talked to the kids," she said. "I told them I was taking some medication and one of the side effects was that I lost my hair. I said but I'm still gorgeous next year my hair will be back."
Some of her biggest cheerleaders would end up being some of her smallest students like a second grader she remembers.
"She said Ms. Trinisa you've got what my mom has and my mom is doing great. I said your mom is my hero and I'm gonna be just like her when I'm finished," she explained.
But before she could finish her treatment it happened.
In March, the pandemic hit.
"Not only was I scared by my low immune from the cancer, I was doubly scared because of corona so at that point I just really got shut up in my house."
With the support of her family and friends, Chriscoe-Brown cautiously continued her final cancer treatments.
"I only came out for my doctor’s visits. It was scary, it was sad. I missed social contact."
June 1st : Three months into the country's lockdown for COVID-19, she was celebrating her victory over cancer.
Her positive outlook helped her take on the biggest battle of her life and win.
"You're gonna have moments of being afraid it's natural," she said. "Don't let the fear overtake you, do what your doctors say you need to do, fight it with your heart, mind and spirit and you're gonna be okay."
"Whether it's cancer or walking down the street and getting hit by a bus we all are only here for a short time, don't let cancer steal your life."
