Adventist Health Bakersfield | You + Us | Summer 2019

4 Living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Inspiring Wholeness Dancing for joy Meet Heather Frank, a woman with moves— and a message Wearing a black tutu and a T-shirt that read, “Empowered women empower the world,” Heather Frank danced her way onstage. Whitney Houston’s song “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” blared over the speakers. She was at the Bakersfield Women’s Business Conference as a representative of Adventist Health Bakersfield to hype up the crowd and deliver a powerful, personal message: “Don’t wait. Don’t put off that doctor’s appointment!” Heather speaks from experience. She is an ovarian cancer survivor who only recently started telling her story, hoping it could save more lives. Fast on her feet Heather spends her days managing the busy schedules of her two active boys—9-year-old Greysen and 7-year-old Gavin—with the help of her husband, Greg, an architect. She also cares for her grandmother. She does all this while working full-time as the director of the Adventist Health Bakersfield Foundation. Her life is full—and busy. So it’s no surprise that a few years ago, the time for her annual gynecological checkup came and went without her making the call. Then in 2015, something changed. People around Heather began to notice she had lost weight. “I remember asking my husband about my weight, and he said, ‘Yeah, your cheeks are really sunken in.’ That’s when I knew I needed to go to the doctor,” Heather says. “I think that we often forget how busy our lives are, and the first person we always neglect is ourselves.” YOU + US : Together i nsp i red ™