Angela Landers, 43, is aiming to help people through counseling and yoga. The breast cancer survivor recently opened Statesboro Yoga & Wellness, located at 108 S. Zetterower Avenue.

Landers has spent the last 20 years working with students in college to deal with the stress that comes with being a young adult.

“I love working with this population and find it thrilling to offer them counseling, a reactive treatment to a problem that already exists, as well as proactive options such as yoga and mindfulness that can help them live and maintain a healthy lifestyle before their stress builds too much!” said Landers.

As a counselor, Landers hopes to reach not only college students in the Statesboro area, but also to make an impact on a population she found herself a part of at age 31 – The population of breast cancer survivors.

At the age of 31, Landers found a lump in her armpit and took action immediately.

“The first doctor I saw told me I was too young and healthy to have cancer and told me to ignore it. I advocated for myself and demanded to see the clinic owner, who agreed that it was suspicious and gave the order for the mammogram.”

Advocating for herself during that doctor’s appointment in October 2011 is something that Landers can pride herself in, as many patients do not do so and in some situations, prolongs the time before diagnosis.

Landers remembers, “They knew immediately during my mammogram that it was likely cancer, and I had an ultrasound and biopsy that same day. Soon after, I was diagnosed with Stage 2B Breast Cancer, and it was ER and HER2 positive.”

With no family history of breast cancer and a negative gene test for the disease, it was a surprise to receive that diagnosis for Landers.

After an aggressive treatment plan, Landers went into remission and has remained in remission since.

“Because the cancer was so aggressive and had already spread to my lymph nodes, I started with 4 months of intense chemotherapy. I then had a lumpectomy and 35 rounds of radiation. I continued infusions for the HER2, then did 10 years of taking a daily hormone blocker for the estrogen.,” said Landers.

Landers is married to Eric and has two stepdaughters, Jayne and Grace, who are both teenagers.

At Statesboro Yoga & Wellness, Landers plans to offer yoga classes for busy women.

Her classes will be 35 minutes long, before and after the work day and they will be gentle flow classes to build strength and offer deep stretching.

This will allow “women with traditional work schedules to easily make the classes without too much extra travel time or hassle.”

Landers had the intention to offer yoga sessions to breast cancer survivors for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but was unable to do so because of low enrollment.

She hopes to offer specific classes for women who have survived cancer or are currently fighting the disease. She’s also hoping to volunteer with counseling services for breast cancer patients.

As a survivor and a counselor, Landers has some advice to offer people who have been newly diagnosed or are currently in treatment.

“Allow yourself to ask for help and get support. It's a daunting journey, and people truly want to help. Don’t resist that!” she advises. “Go easy on yourself as your emotions run wild.

'A wild range of strong emotion is to be expected during such a tough and scary time. Be kind to yourself as you ride those waves.”