Life after cancer: Women impacted by the disease open Long Island businesses helping others

Stephanie Seban found out she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer when she was 31, a diagnosis she says is considered incurable. “I choose to believe otherwise,” she says, but like anyone faced with that diagnosis, Seban was scared.

So was Gena Bradshaw, who survived leukemia as a young child, but faced thyroid cancer 17 years later, and Margaret Elenis, diagnosed with breast cancer at 28. For Karla Waldron, watching her mother die of breast cancer in 1989 was another kind of horror.

But sinking into despair was not an option for these women.

The businesses they started help others face the challenges of living with cancer or simply to live better lives. Their goal is to thrive — for their clients, and for themselves.   

'Thriving' with Stephanie Seban

“I get a lot of women asking me how I made it this far. I don’t have all of the answers, but I’ve been on this journey for quite some time, and I feel like I’ve left no stone unturned.”

- Stephanie Seban

When you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, you get thrown into a world of pink, “but that was never me,” says Seban, 43, of St. James. “I’m not a pink boxing glove kind of girl.”

Diagnosed nearly 13 years ago, Seban founded Thrive Gang in 2017 with her friend Amanda Anik of Boca Raton, Florida. “Amanda wanted to buy me something to support my journey,”  says Seban, but a lot of stuff you could purchase was “not our style. Being two girls who were always very into fashion … we decided, if doesn’t exist, let’s make it.”

Thrive Gang merchandise, sold online, includes collegiate-looking tees and sweatshirts with words like “Thrive,” and “Healing,” along with jewelry, a tote and some canvas makeup bags — things, says Seban, “that don’t make you look like a walking cancer-patient billboard.”
In September  Thrive Gang, in partnership with the nonprofit Glam4Good, sponsored a retreat in Southampton attended by 30 women, many of them with breast cancer. Seban says she received nothing but praise from attendees. “Yesterday was one of the best days of my life,” says  Cassie Romano of Emerson, New Jersey, who attended the event. “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced so much positive energy, support and love.” Seban says her own cancer is stable right now. “I get a lot of women asking me how I made it this far,” says Seban. “I don’t have all of the answers, but I’ve been on this journey for quite some time, and I feel like I’ve left no stone unturned.”

More info ThriveGang.co

Starting young with Margaret Elenis

“Yes, there’s a negative to getting cancer, but this is my opportunity. I chose to pursue a path where I know I’m doing something for the future.”

- Margaret Elenis

When Elenis of Franklin Square was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, at age 28, she could no longer take her 2½-year-old son to their favorite spot, a play space where she could have a cup of coffee and he could just run around. “There was nothing I could eat,” she says, adding she felt the need to change her lifestyle. In 2020, the former special education teacher opened Oh My Goodness Kids, which she describes as a “sanctuary where everything is healthy for kids … a safe space here we could promote a better lifestyle.”

COVID temporarily shut the business down, but that was the least of her problems. Eleven months after her initial diagnosis she was in remission and able to get pregnant with her second child. “Then cancer came back with a vengeance,” she says, and she’s been in treatment ever since. She had the baby three months early “because I wasn’t going to make it,” spending a month going back and forth from the treatment center to the NICU.

While Elenis remains in treatment, she is optimistic about the road she’s chosen. And Oh My Goodness Kids is thriving. With locations in Garden City and Port Washington, the business offers programs for kids from 4 months up to young teens. There are drop-off programs, classes in cooking and yoga for older kids, and a cafe with healthy snacks. One of the most popular classes is “messy art,” in which infants create paintings by crawling around the floor in edible paint.

Parents are so appreciative, she says, but no one gets more out of all this than Elenis. “It’s the biggest reward,” she adds. “Yes, there’s a negative to getting cancer, but this is my opportunity. I chose to pursue a path where I know I’m doing something for the future.”

More info 61 New Hyde Park Rd., Garden City; 301 Main St., Port Washington; ohmygoodnesskids.com; 516-636-5444

Gena Bradshaw's holistic classes

"I grew up in a holistic, fitness-based family…and I believe that’s what helped me on my journey of recovery and healing.”

- Gena Bradshaw

Bradshaw, of Westbury, has been dealing with cancer most of her life. She survived leukemia, diagnosed at age 3, and thyroid cancer, diagnosed at age 20. “It was tough,” says Bradshaw, now 30. “Thankfully, I grew up in a holistic, fitness-based family … and I believe that’s what helped me on my journey of recovery and healing.” 

Feeling she needed to share her story, Bradshaw published a book in 2021, “A Survivor’s Story: A Holistic Healing Journey Through Cancer.” She started her business, Holistic Human Performance, the next year, describing it has “a virtual wellness center … an educational platform that encourages people to focus on small, healthy habits.” Her classes, both online and in person, cover everything from breath work, guided mediation and sound therapy to movement and nutrition.

“What I teach is just another side of wellness,” she says. “I’m the health coach in their back pocket.” People who have been diagnosed with cancer often have no idea where to turn, explains Bradshaw, who can refer clients to a variety of experts, whether an integrative oncologist or an acupuncturist. Working in her family’s personal training business for years, Bradshaw studied exercise science at Ithaca College, focusing on eastern and western medicine. What she does now, she says, is a ”combination of two worlds — science and spirituality.”

“Gena has helped in more ways than one,” says client Kellie Griffin of Copiague. “Gena is not only an exceptional trainer and wellness coach, she is someone I call a friend. She truly cares about your well-being and was there for me during a difficult time in my life.” Bradshaw believes one of her major goals is to help clients understand that even a stage 4 diagnosis doesn’t mean a death sentence. But, she stresses, the right attitude is crucial. “I am really all about how our emotions can dictate our lives,” says Bradshaw. “When we hold trauma in the body, the body always keeps score.” 

More info HolisticHumanPerformance.co

Mildred DeMolfetto inspires Mondays at Racine 

When DeMolfetto was diagnosed with breast cancer, there were no pink ribbons. “People didn’t even say breast, much less breast cancer,” says her daughter Karla Waldron of Bayport. With no resources available to her, says Waldron, the mother of six “took to her room and became very depressed … breast cancer stopper her in her tracks.” Making things worse, her hair salon had no idea how to deal with a woman losing her hair. “They made her feel awful,” says Waldron.

DeMolfetto died in 1989, but it wasn’t until 2003 that Waldron’s sisters, Cynthia Sansone and Rachel DeMolfetto, opened their salon and spa, Racine. Mindful of what their mother went through, they decided to offer free services to cancer patients in their community one day a month, and Mondays at Racine was born.

Fast forward nearly 10 years when an HBO producer wanted to create a documentary exploring what happens when a woman loses her hair. When they got the call from HBO “my sisters thought they were being punked,” says Waldron, now executive director of the organization. The 39-minute film was released in 2012, earning a 2013 Academy Award nomination for best short documentary.

More importantly, though, the film gave the sisters the impetus to broaden their program. Mondays at Racine has expanded to 17 salons across the Island, offering services to men, women and young adults with any type of cancer. It is a godsend to people like Barbara Healy of East Yaphank, who was having her hair done on a recent Monday at Salon Be in Blue Point. “It’s been such a help,” says Healy, who has participated in the program since being diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. She decided against a wig (“too hot”) but had her makeup done on that first visit and felt so much better. “It was uplifting,” says Healy, who continues to come to the salon now that her hair has started growing back. “More people need to know about this.”

More info 888-966-6329; MondaysatRacine.org

Plus: Nikeya Burnett's Sereen Studio

“I’m like a best friend who knows what they’re going through.”

- Nikeya Burnett

It’s “hair with a purpose,” says Burnett, of Bay Shore, describing her shop, Sereen Studio in Islip. Burnett is thankful to have never been diagnosed with cancer, but she is familiar with the disease, having worked as a benefit advisor for an insurance company in North Carolina and as a chemo coordinator at a cancer center in Bay Shore.

“I was able to learn the correct things to ask insurance companies,” she says, as well as how the chemotherapy process works in terms of hair loss. At Sereen, which is both a profit and nonprofit business, Burnett guides her hair-loss customers — she calls them VIP Beauties — every step of the way. “Much of what I offer is free,” she says, starting with an initial consultation that lets people know what to expect. She coaches them through “every step of the journey, before the hair ever starts to fall out.” Wigs can cost as much as $2,000, but some insurance plans cover the costs, she says. Even when hair starts to grow back, she says, women need advice on how to deal with it.

The business sells and maintains custom wigs, but Burnett is trying to make that easier as well. In October,  she started Wig Wednesdays, which will provide free wig styling for cancer patients. "It’s all very rewarding,” she says, even though it can be tough. Primarily, she sees herself as someone to talk to. “I’m like a best friend who knows what they’re going through.”

More info: 478 Main St., Islip; 631-820-0064; sereenhair.com