Phoenix radio host, cancer survivor Stella Paolini shares story to build awareness

PHOENIX - A Valley radio talk show host, who is now cancer-free, calls her survival nothing short of a miracle and offers advice for others fighting the disease.

You may know Stella Paolini from the airwaves of 1190 AM broadcasting from downtown Phoenix.

Her voice over the past few years has been one of an advocate and a survivor.

In 2010, despite mammograms previously, she discovered a lump. 

Soon after, her doctors gave her a bleak prognosis.

"They said six months," she said. "I remember they said it was cancer and it was bad and then I don't remember anything else from there. I just blacked out."

Beating the odds, Paolini has been cancer-free for nearly three years.

There was no history of cancer in her family.

"Before I really didn't love myself much," she said as she looked at an article that was written about her shortly after her diagnosis. "Now I love myself and everyone around me. My disease was a blessing of sorts."

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Paolini hopes that her story will give people who are fighting the disease hope.  

She urges women to get regular mammograms, eat healthy, and exercise and not take for granted how quickly your life could change.