By Chanda Temple
The comb went through Doniell Milliner’s hair, like knife through butter, seemingly slicing strands at every stroke.
But Doniell wasn’t sad as she showed the large ball of hair to her Facebook followers. In fact, she smiled in what she saw as a moment of victory.
“That means that healing is taking plaaaccccceee!” she said in a sing-songy voice. “Amen.”
The recording happened early in her chemo treatments for Stage 3 triple negative breast cancer. It was September 29, 2023, and she was 53.
Doniell would go on to share more steps of her journey, including what would eventually become her bald head.
“I share my journey on social media because it’s a different journey for every one of us,” she said. “It’s a journey that definitely teaches you how to appreciate the life you have. It’s a journey that teaches you how to start really living life like you haven’t been before …”
She had chemo from September 2023 to February 2024. She had immunotherapy from September 2023 to September 2024. After the chemo treatments, she took chemo pills for six months. Then, she had a lumpectomy and a breast reduction in June 2024. From January to March 2025, she had 36 rounds of radiation.
“Yeah, they took me on a roller coaster ride, girl,” she said. “But, I’m here.”
The side effects from chemo turned her skin dark, spotted her tongue and left her with feet in pain, brough on by neuropathy. To this day, she treats the feet pain with magnesium-based oils and lotions, saying in an upbeat tone, that if she has tingling in her toes, she’s just glad she has toes that tingle.
“I’m going to live my life, baby, til the wheels fall off,” she said.
Doniell works as a school bus driver and a sixth grade English teacher for Birmingham City Schools, where she still reported to work while undergoing her treatments. Today, she is cancer-free and continues to have positive outlook on life.
“People ask me how I was doing, and I’d say, ‘I’m walking in my wellness,” she said. “And then somebody will say, ‘Oh I’m so sorry. You didn’t tell me you were sick.’ And I’d say, ‘Do I look sick or do I just look bald headed?
“And then they’d say, ‘You didn’t tell me you had cancer,’ and I’d say, “Did you want me to lie to you? I don’t have it. I gave it to God.’ ”
“I didn’t ask for breast cancer. I didn’t want it,” said Doniell. “So, I didn’t claim it.”
Doniell, now 55, said that when she was fighting cancer, she saw herself healed. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor, and she draws encouragement from her, too.
“I look at my mom and her strength and her resilience,” Doniell said. “And I’m like, I come from her. I can’t do anything but survive. She’s here, so, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not just a survivor, I’m a thriver.”
In addition to her cancer medication, Doniell turned to natural supplements and fruits in her cancer fight. Some of her favorites include Black seed oil capsules, sour sop tea leaves and bagged sour top tea from Golden Temple in Birmingham’s Five Points South neighborhood. She also ate watermelon from Publix, and sour sop fruit, when she could find it, from Mi Pueblo in Homewood. (Sour sop, also known as graviola and guanoabana, is a tropical fruit that can provide sources of fiber and antioxidants. )
Doniell was so sure she would beat cancer before she even started chemo, that she gave the cancerous nodule in her left breast a name.
First name: Healed.
Middle name: Dried up.
Last name: And gone.
“And that’s where it is: Healed. Dried up. And gone,” she said. “When I look at my story, I say, ‘Speak those things that be not as though they were, and they shall come to past.’ ”
NOTE: In America, one in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I will be profiling one female breast cancer survivor each day in October 2025. The stories will also highlight a food from a Birmingham, AL restaurant or food vendor they liked at some point during their breast cancer journey or today. The series is called “SurviveHer at the Table: Food. Faith. Fight.”
Each story posted this month is the opinion of the survivor, with a goal to increase awareness about early detection and treatment for breast cancer. Readers should consult with their physician for medical and health advice and their nutritionist for healthy eating tips. Links to area resources will be shared in future posts this month.
Chanda Temple is an award-winning writer living in Birmingham, Ala. She blogs at http://www.chandatemplewrites.com. If you have a food story idea, email her at chandatemple@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram at @chandatemple.
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