Briggs Freeman Realtor Elissa Genova Is Surviving and Thriving After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

When a self-employed single mother gets a breast cancer diagnosis, she has some choices to make: quietly pretend everything is fine or go public and ask for help from others. 

The “quietly pretend everything is fine” option initially appealed to Elissa Genova, a Realtor with Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International. She didn’t want people to think she was too sick to work at a time when she needed to make money more than ever. But she had a conversation with her brother and at his suggestion, she got to work sharing her cancer journey on an Instagram page she titled “A Minor Inconvenience.” 

After all, she’s never shied away from doing the right thing. 

Genova went in for her first mammogram in February for no reason other than it was the right thing to do. 

“I didn’t find a lump or have a rash or anything,” Genova said. “There’s no breast cancer in my family. I don’t have the cancer gene. I’m a cautionary tale. I went because you’re supposed to go when you turn 40.”

She didn’t actually go for the mammogram until she was 41 because the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back her plans. At the onset of 2022, she made a New Year’s to-do list to take care of her body, and the mammogram was her top priority.

Getting Real

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but Genova doesn’t need pink ribbons to nudge her about the importance of raising interest in women’s health and wellness.

Genova, now 42, grew up in the Dallas area, went to Plano High School, and worked as a loan officer in her 20s. She built a career in digital marketing and got her real estate license about five years ago. 

A single mom since her 14-year-old daughter was born, she’s always carried her own insurance, but that got a little complicated when she became a Realtor. She now uses Blue Cross Blue Shield through a Marketplace insurance plan. 

When she went for her first mammogram at Solis Mammography, they told her to come back for a diagnostic. 

“They said it was very common,” she said. 

Then they told her to come back for a sonogram. 

“I have — I had — large breasts and [the cancer] was in the middle,” Genova said. “When I first met my breast surgeon, even she had trouble finding it. I had stage 2B cancer and I never even found a lump.” 

Things moved quickly after Genova’s March 7 diagnosis. She began chemotherapy treatments, signing contracts for her clients’ new homes while red-devil poison was injected into her body. 

Her hair fell out and she underwent a double mastectomy in August. Radiation begins this week, and reconstruction is planned for next summer. 

“I have been able to work,” Genova said. “I worked pretty normally during the diagnosis and chemotherapy portion. I stopped prospecting so I could slow myself down as I entered the surgery phase. There were some days that I was out of it, sleeping a lot. I managed my schedule and shifted down toward surgery time. I was able to close everything out and recover for about a month. I still haven’t really picked up just yet, but that’s more of a personal choice. I’m mentally dealing with it. It happened so fast.”

Buoyed by her family, other PTA moms, friends at National Charity League’s Lake Highlands chapter, and her team at  Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International, Genova began the fight of her life. 

And she’s doing it all on Instagram.

“I went into this not necessarily feeling shame, but I thought I could probably get away with not sharing it,” she said. “I joined a cancer group on Facebook and there was a girl in there that I knew. She has been very private about it. She was going to ‘cold cap’ so she didn’t lose her hair. We started talking about that and sharing information.”

All the terminology, options, drugs, and side effects are foreign unless someone has actually been through it, Genova explained. She felt like she could educate other women about her experience and share some hope. 

Turns out that the photos and information she was sharing were helpful to strangers as well as her own family. Within five weeks of her diagnosis, her daughter’s stepmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Genova uses her Facebook page and a personal Instagram account to share highlights of her home listings, family events, and her daughter Eden’s dance competitions. Her friends and people she’s met through her cancer journey follow “A Minor Inconvenience” to check the status of her treatment and learn more about what it’s like to live with breast cancer. 

She’s been comfortably candid every step of the way.

“I think most people know what a double mastectomy is,” she said. “It’s an amputation. I had a hysterectomy last year — totally unrelated. I have nothing that identifies me as a woman anymore.” 

Bills, Bills, Bills

As Genova shares her experience, strength, and hope with other cancer survivors, she also has some words of wisdom for Realtors and independent contractors: get health insurance, learn what it covers, and use what it covers. 

“Well-women’s visits are covered by a lot of insurance,” Genova said. “Those are free. Maybe you have to use your copay but it’s not much. My mammogram was free. Things start to add up as they get more robust with CT scans and treatments. Some people have health insurance and they never go to the doctor. We’re too old for that.”

One in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer, the Realtor added. 

“That means when you go to your birthday dinner with your friends, one of you at that table is going to be diagnosed,” she said. “I speak passionately about it now.” 

Soon after her diagnosis, Genova reached out to Jessica Smith, vice president of sales at Briggs Freeman. 

“I told her, ‘I want you to know why I’m not popping into the office as much,’” Genova said. “She was really kind about me taking care of myself. She had some connections with people who have foundations. I did pop into the office one day, and I’ve had people offer me their transaction coordinators or offer to help with a showing. They don’t want my business to fail. They’ve offered themselves or their assistants to help.”

Genova serves as VP of membership for the Lake Highlands chapter of the National Charity League, and her colleagues there have offered support through MealTrain and GoFundMe. 

“There are extra expenses, not just the medical bills, that you don’t even think about,” Genova said. “It’s buying front-closure pajamas and bras. My clothes fit differently now.” 

And next year, the deductibles and out-of-pocket payments start over, she added. 

Another word of advice to the self-employed: get life insurance.

Genova doesn’t have it and doesn’t think she’ll be able to get it now. 

“I used to have it when I worked for a corporation, but I was not carrying it at the time of my diagnosis,” she said. “That is something I regret.” 

She jokes that it’s a good thing she was nice to people before she got cancer because she’s seen people show up in a way she’d never imagined. 

“This is the last thing I ever expected to happen, but I am grateful for Marketplace and access to insurance policies,” she said. “I’m grateful to the people who have given their time and their contacts, connecting me with other women who are going through this too.” 

Self Care

Upon hearing that she had breast cancer, Genova’s first words to a nurse were, “I don’t have time for this.” 

In addition to taking care of her daughter and working a full-time job, Genova had to learn how to take care of herself. 

“My daughter was traumatized at the thought of me losing my hair,” she said. “She didn’t want to see me look sick. She didn’t want to talk about it. Then her stepmom got diagnosed, and it was like she stepped up to the plate. She wanted to help.”

Genova thought she’d have to pull her teen out of dance competitions because she wasn’t able to afford it, but she made that work and has committed to keeping her daughter’s life as normal as possible. 

That could change as she begins radiation five days a week for six weeks. 

“There are two major side effects — literally your skin burning and excessive fatigue,” Genova said. 

Going through cancer can be overwhelming, but Genova has found support in her online groups.

“We understand each other,” she said. “When someone says she’s tired, I know that it’s a next-level kind of tired. It’s good to be open and connect with people.” 

The Realtor is adamant that she can still sell a house and meet deadlines, but she’s also learned to listen to her body.

“If I feel like I need to take a nap, I take a nap,” she said. “I don’t feel guilty about it.” 

She also can’t wait to get back on her Peloton exercise bike.

“I’m not dead,” she said. “I am working. There’s a picture on my Instagram where I am sending a contract for a property while I’m being injected with chemo. I had a deadline. I have to work. I’m a self-employed single mom battling breast cancer. It’s possible to do this, but you can’t do it without community support.”