Given 6 to 12 Months: Why I Built Still Here Now

I wasn't supposed to be writing this.

In December 2019, I was told I had Stage 4 breast cancer. It was already in my chest, my lymph nodes, my lungs, my bones, and my liver. I was 46. I was given 6 to 12 months to live.

That was six years ago. I'm 52 now. Still here.

I want to tell you how I got here, why I built Still Here Now, and who I built it for. Because if you've found your way to this page, there's a good chance you're carrying something heavy too.

The diagnosis no one saw coming

Cancer wasn't my first hard diagnosis. I was diagnosed with MS at 38, so I already knew what it felt like to have your body rewrite the plan without asking you. But nothing prepared me for Stage 4.

Only around 22% of patients with my diagnosis live past six years. My doctors still tell me it amazes them that I'm one of them. I don't take a single day of that for granted.

Medicine first. Always.

I want to be really clear about this, because it matters: I followed every doctor's order. I showed up to every appointment. I still do, and I always will. Nothing I share here is a replacement for that care, ever.

But I also made a decision about what I believed was possible.

That decision changed everything.

Because there's a part of this road that medicine can't fully reach. It's the 3 a.m. part. The lying awake part. The bracing for the next scan, the next appointment, the next phone call part. The part where your body stays on high alert for so long that you forget what calm even feels like.

I believe the mindset I built alongside my treatment made this road steadier, and made me stronger on it.

What I built alongside my treatment

So I started studying neuroscience, mindset, and the science of healing. I learned how the brain can reshape itself. How the vagus nerve tells your body whether it's safe. How the thoughts we repeat can keep us stuck in fight or flight, and how bringing attention back into the body can interrupt the spiral.

None of it was magic. It was practice. Small things, done daily, that gave my nervous system a chance to settle. Over time, those small things added up to steadier ground.

Why "Still Here Now"

Still here. Still healing. Still going.

Those three lines are the whole reason this exists. Being still here isn't about pretending things are fine. It's about finding a way to stay present in your own life, right now, even when the future feels uncertain.

Who I built this for

I built Still Here Now for anyone whose life has been turned upside down. You might be facing a diagnosis. You might be grieving someone you love. You might be in the middle of a transition you never asked for, or living with anxiety that won't let your body rest.

If you've ever lain awake at night trying to feel like yourself again, this is for you.

You are not done. Your story is not finished.

What Rewire is

Everything I learned became Rewire, a 12 day guided audio course. Each day is a short practice you can do from anywhere, built around four threads of research that work together:

Neuroplasticity: understanding how your brain reshapes itself, and giving it a reason to.
Vagal activation: simple practices that signal safety to your nervous system in real time.
Cognitive reframing: loosening the thought patterns that keep your body on high alert.
Somatic grounding: coming back into your body when your mind wants to spiral ahead.

Twelve days. One practice a day. A steadier place to stand.

Thank you for being here. However you found this page, and whatever you're carrying, I'm really glad you did.

With love,
Tara

Tara DiTommaso

Tara is the founder of Still Here Now. Diagnosed with MS at 38 and Stage 4 breast cancer at 46, she built Rewire from the neuroscience backed tools that helped her find steady ground alongside her treatment.