Two women’s lives completely changed when they heard the words: “You have cancer.” But what happened next, is surprising.
Two strangers formed a lasting friendship during cancer treatment.
Four years ago, Ani Wilbanks got the news that changed her life forever.
“I got diagnosed with stage 4 triple negative breast cancer. It is very aggressive,” said Ani Wilbanks, a patient at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.
Since that moment, it’s been a rollercoaster journey for the 67-year-old, but her cancer diagnosis led her to Candy Formanek.
“We’re kind of meant to be together in a way that the cancer brought us together,” said Candy Formanek, a patient at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.
The 77-year-old survived breast cancer in 2014 but in 2021, she got the news that she had stage four stomach cancer.
That’s when Ani and Candy’s paths would then cross, in adjacent chemotherapy chairs at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.
“They give me Benadryl as one of the pre-meds, which puts me to sleep and I refuse to go down. So I sit in the visitor chair so I can be up and erect. She would sit next to me and we would talk and one day I said can’t she sit in the chemo chair here with me? You know you could use that room for somebody else and it happened,” said Wilbanks.
“She makes me laugh. We have a good time. We just enjoy each other’s stories,” said Formanek.
There’s friendship and then there’s the special bond that Ani and Candy have formed. They lean on each other during the tough moments and the pair says they actually look forward to seeing the nurses and volunteers during their chemo treatment every week.
“We’re a chemo family now," said Wilbanks. "That’s how I view it. You’re not going to believe this statement, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart, which is: I love coming to chemo. Because chemo is healing me and outside of that, I meet wonderful people and patients.”
The two women have very different personalities, but they share the same values as they have become soul sisters.
“We are stronger together. In the words of Barbra Streisand. 'People who need people are the luckiest people in the world,'” said Wilbanks.
As they listen to each other’s life stories during chemo, the cancer patients can also listen to the sweet soundtrack of live music.
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WATCH HERE As part of the Miami Cancer Institute’s Arts in Medicine Program, musicians and visual artists perform or lead activities in treatment areas.
While the realities of their prognosis are grim, you wouldn’t know it as these women have a will to live despite the odds.
“When you hear the word cancer, you think, 'Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen to me? How long am I going to live?' But there’s life when you do have cancer. You have to have hope and you have to have faith,” said Formanek.
“99 percent I’m going to die and one percent I’m going to live. Why can’t I be the one percent and why can’t she be the one percent?” said Wilbanks.
This dynamic duo has experienced all the lows that can come with a cancer diagnosis, but they’ve chosen to take the high road by having hope while fighting this disease day by day.
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