Courtesy Alexis Slifer Butcher
The pandemic hit Alexis Slifer Butcher arduous.
A Nashville-based singer/songwriter, she discovered herself dwelling the lifetime of many, as she and her husband of 4 years, Carson, spent the vast majority of 2020 chopping corners to save cash. However on a particular evening in October, the 2 determined to splurge.
“I keep in mind coming residence from work and my husband had purchased me this pink costume, and it was laying out on the mattress,” Slifer Butcher, 28, remembers in a latest interview with PEOPLE. “He advised me that he had made a reservation for dinner for my birthday. We went to The Normal in downtown Nashville, and it was simply probably the most good evening.”
Only a month later, she would discover out she was pregnant with their first child. And some months after that, she would discover out she had breast most cancers.
“We hold calling it a yr of whiplash as a result of it has been such a curler coaster,” explains the Ohio native, who’s presently battling ductile invasive carcinoma. “From Grammy nominations and this unbelievable ASCAP award to a prognosis of most cancers to having my first child. It has been a wild yr.”
Certainly, on high of the emotional rollercoaster she finds herself personally dwelling, she additionally finds herself on fairly the skilled journey: The Grammy and Dove Award–nominated track “Well-known For (I Imagine)” that she co-wrote alongside Roland Charles Butler, Douglas Jordan Sapp and Christian artist Tauren Wells just lately was named the ASCAP Christian song of the year .
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“I actually thought the lifetime of the track was over a very long time in the past,” says Slifer Butcher of the track that was initially written over six years in the past. “It was left on a shelf for some time, and when that occurs to one thing of yours that you just imagine in, it is not very straightforward. I so wished the track to be out for the world for others to be inspired by.”
And now it’s. Nevertheless it’s additionally grow to be a track that has served as an encouragement to Slifer Butcher herself as she continues with a slew of most cancers therapies.
“Once you’re pregnant, your physique is simply all the time altering, so we did not particularly understand that the lump was a difficulty or one thing problematic till my second trimester,” she remembers. “I known as my OB/GYN and she or he had me instantly rush over as a result of it had grown. I imply, it was the scale of an egg, and it was arduous and painful.”
They quickly knew this was not being pregnant associated.
“We had a biopsy carried out and inside three days, we knew that it was breast most cancers,” Slifer Butcher says. “I do not forget that it was all very weird, as a result of earlier than the physician even known as with the outcomes, I already felt like I knew. I imagine that the Lord actually ready me for that information, as a result of I simply sat on the facet of the mattress and simply took within the second and simply how my life had simply modified.”
That evening, she and her husband mourned what appeared probably the most dire of circumstances. However whereas doing so, additionally they celebrated the sturdy basis that their marriage was resting upon. And, sure, there was a child coming too.
“In that second, we had no solutions when it got here to the breast most cancers,” she says. “All we knew was, sure, it was breast most cancers. It was a extremely painful however lovely evening.”
Courtesy Alexis Slifer Butcher
And whereas songwriting had lengthy served as a remedy of kinds for Slifer Butcher, the prognosis of most cancers left her depleted of the way wherein to write down. She explains, “My coronary heart was so damaged. I did not have the capability to write down in any respect. I’d sit and simply play music, however I could not discover the phrases. I used to be simply felt empty.”
Regardless of her lack of songwriting inspiration, Slifer Butcher quickly discovered a renewed sense of hope when she gave start to a wholesome child daughter named Lila on Saturday, Might 22. Lila was born by emergency cesarean part two months earlier than her due date whereas Slifer Butcher herself was present process chemo therapies for her most cancers.
“She is simply one of the best child,” the brand new mom shares. “She actually does not even cry. She’s simply one of the best, candy little factor.”
Courtesy Alexis Slifer Butcher
At present, Slifer Butcher finds herself simply a few weeks from her last chemo therapy. The tumor that she as soon as might really feel is “not there anymore,” and there’s no signal that the most cancers has unfold. However as any most cancers affected person is aware of, it hasn’t been straightforward.
“I’ve had two various kinds of chemotherapy, and the primary one actually made me really feel like I used to be dying,” says Slifer Butcher, who will undergo a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgical procedure round Thanksgiving time to take away all tumors and risk of future development, adopted by a course of immunotherapy for the subsequent yr or so.
“It felt like my complete physique was disintegrating, however the second spherical doesn’t really feel that means,” she provides. “It is obtained some uncomfortable signs, however within the grand scheme of issues, I can handle my daughter each day on my own. So we’re actually grateful for the place we’re proper now.”
