Her Mainely Girl Adventures: Healing in Nature

By Staci Warren

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thinking 2025 didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped. Last year, I spent a lot of time in the woods which helped me relax and escape, but this year, I faced a far more serious problem than I ever anticipated. In early February, I was diagnosed with aggressive malignant, triple negative breast cancer, but I had no idea what that actually meant.

Staci Warren is slowly
getting back out and 
into nature after
surgery and treatment
for cancer this spring.
COURTESY PHOTO

I had gone in for my annual mammogram that has always been followed by back-and-forth visits to follow up on possible suspicious findings. Year after year, nothing ever came of them so when I got my six-month call back, I almost didn’t go because I had a meeting for work but decided it would be too much of a pain to reschedule, so I went. That morning, the technician even said, “we’ll get you out of here in no time. You probably won’t need that ultrasound they’ve already scheduled.”

Nope, not lucky. My ultrasound was done, and I went home. That night my PCP called telling me I needed a biopsy, and they just happened to have an opening the following Tuesday. Following my biopsy, a week’s wait and not hearing from the surgeon, I thought “no news is good news,” but they hadn’t cancelled my appointment.

As I sat through my appointment, it was as if she were talking about someone else as she explained the gravity of the diagnosis. My mind raced day and night for the next three months. The waiting for what seemed like forever put me into a mental health crisis without me even realizing it, even though I was in complete denial.

There was no time to cry or be emotional, so I had to accept it and tackle each day as any other day. I had so many questions, so little answers and decisions that needed to be made.

I tried to get outside, but the weather was so unpredictable, the days were short, and it seemed as if spring would never arrive, so I took up quilting to keep my mind busy if I couldn’t be outside. The cold, wind, and rain all spring made it almost unbearable, but whenever the stars aligned, I would take in the outdoors whether to sit by the campfire in my back yard or just on the deck to breathe in the fresh air.

I could feel my body releasing the stress, the worry, and the “what ifs” and unknowns. My husband would drive me up to our favorite place, where we go to all summer just to get a break from the house. Just seeing and being where we have so many memories helped me deal with the diagnosis.

The day before my bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, we went fly fishing in the river, which was also the first nice day in many weeks. I caught the only fish, a beautiful 13-inch salmon. For one wonderful day, my mind was free to think of anything other than what I was facing. Fly fishing kept me focused on the task at hand and I was rewarded with feeling relaxed, happy, and worriless for the first time in a long time. I didn’t think I’d get another chance to fish this season, but it didn’t matter at that moment.

I wasn’t able to hunt turkey this spring due to my surgery so all I did all spring was watch strutting toms and hens in my field. I had two months of recovery, and now chemotherapy has begun.

We’ve planned our camping and fishing around the weather, which has coincidentally coincided around my chemo recovery weekends. We got a chance to fly fish from our boat last weekend. I caught and released six beautiful native brook trout while enjoying the sunset and calm waters on the pond. The immense joy that I get being in the outdoors has helped me heal more than I ever hoped.

I still have two more months of chemotherapy, and I will be done, with hopes of no reoccurrence. The timing will be perfect since I was drawn for a moose permit! I will have two months to recoup before my moose hunt in the Maine North Woods in late September. It’s given me something to look forward to as I see the end of chemotherapy, which has become more difficult the more I have.

I plan to go for my second grand slam. I will hunt bear in early September, moose and deer, but my biggest hurdle will be getting a fall turkey, which I’ve never done. Wish me luck! If you happen to be in Ashland, I’ll be the one wearing the orange hunting hat and no hair.

I am on the mend. My mind is good, and I can see the finish line. Not only am I almost through treatment, but also, my quilt is almost done, which is a good thing since I have lots of outdoor adventures planned. I can’t stress enough, how important the outdoors is for healing the mind, body and soul when you’re faced with a health crisis. Make it part of your healing journey, and please, get your mammograms. Mine saved my life.

–Staci Warren provides a unique woman’s perspective and column on the outdoors every month. She is a freelance writer whose blog, My Mainely Girl Adventures, is about a woman hunting, fishing, trapping, foraging and living in the Maine outdoors. She also loves camping, star gazing, wildlife watching, and hunting for fossils. She’s an active member and board member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association and is a monthly columnist and feature writer for The Maine Sportsman Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys mentoring women hunters and trappers. <