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Rachel Peterson: A Call to Action

February 21, 2019 Whitney Warne
Rachel Peterson

On February 12th, I got a phone call informing me that my dear friend Rachel Peterson was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27. As I sit here typing these words, I am recalling the quick turn in emotion, as I answered the phone excited to hear a friend’s voice and then bursting into tears at Dumpling Darling when I finally processed what I was being told.

Rachel-BeatCancer 2.jpg

 My friend Rachel is 5 years younger than me, an athlete, a runner, an energetic life liver. She is also an entrepreneur, creating her income with her own brain, time and resources, all of which are about to become precious commodities as cancer treatments invade her body and evaporate her time.

Rachel is a supporter of others, both in her personal life and professional. When she first dove into the entrepreneurial journey, Rachel worked with me on my social media presence, helping to implement a lot of the structure you see today. She helped shape Wednesdays with Whitney into what it is, and facilitated several social media campaigns on behalf of my business while also overhauling my CRM  and giving my website a much needed boost. 

These are the things she done on the outside. On the inside, Rachel has sat with me while I cried, showed up when I needed something but didn’t know what, watched Winston and sent me cute selfies of the two of them snuggling, and been the kind of friend that I can only describe as one of my “ride or dies.” When you know, you know, and with Rachel, I knew from the moment we met, we would walk a long way together. 

Rachel-BeatCancer 3.jpg

Now, as she begins her battle with cancer, I will walk with her, I will run ahead and clear the path, I will bring all the joy and laughter into her life that I possibly can and I will fight with her. 

As business owners, there are the things we plan out; goals, projections, saving for taxes, travel and time off. Then there are the things we could never conceive of planning for; cancer, loss of physical freedom, medical bills that are incompressible in comparison to medical coverage, loss of your breasts, potentially the loss of being able to have kids and the loss of the ability to work for yourself. 

How do we plan for devastating circumstances like this? Its time’s like this where all we can do is ask for help. 

Rachel-BeatCancer 4.jpg

As we rally around Rachel and structure a fight on her behalf, I’ve asked her what would help most and here is what she said.

Financially contribute to her fight.

Rachel’s battle will be long. She has triple positive breast cancer ( a “good” kind, if that’s even possible) and she will be going through 16 weeks of chemo, followed by a mastectomy, radiation and hormone therapy. This journey will take all of her physical and mental strength along with her financial resources. If you are an entrepreneur, you know the difficulty of getting decent medical coverage. There will be lots of bills that go uncovered, not to mention the loss of income, as she has to cut back on her client work in order to fight for her life. If you are able, please consider contributing to her Go Fund Me campaign. 

Fight with Rachel

Send good vibes and happy gifts. 

Above anything else, Rachel asked that we remember she is still human. She still wants to talk about what’s happening in our lives, laugh over the frivolous details of first dates or client horror stories. This road will be hard, but it will be harder with no distractions. She will be setting up a Caring Bridge sit for those who want to follow on her journey, hoping to relieve some of the emotional fatigue that comes from updating everyone individually. Remember that Rachel still needs to laugh. Send magazines, funny books or empowering gift, anything to take her mind off of what’s happening inside her body. She loves candles and massages and that makes her feel special and human. 

Healthy, low prep food.

This one is the hardest as she lives in Bend Oregon and we mostly live in Des Moines. Low prep, healthy meals are going to be key. Rachel is admittedly a lack luster chef and doesn’t see that changing once chemo is introduced into daily life, so healthy meal service kits would be ideal. Please refrain from sending sugary comfort food. Sugar is the first ingredient to go when fighting the battle for your life. 


If you are down here reading the bottom of this blog post, THANK YOU. You must be one of us, a human that jumps to action to rally around one of our own. A human that knows that we all have enough and can give to someone who is truly in need. A human who is searching for a way to contribute to the health of our sister. 

Please feel free to reach out to me personally with any questions or drop items off at my house if you would like to contribute to a group care package. I will be doing everything within my power to support Rachel. Thank you for going on this journey with us. 

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This entire backpack is filled with food. 

We’re in route to San Diego for our very first family vacation AND I made a commitment to my wellness 10 days ago. I am committed to resetting my nutrition, getting in touch with what fuels me, and de
This entire backpack is filled with food. We’re in route to San Diego for our very first family vacation AND I made a commitment to my wellness 10 days ago. I am committed to resetting my nutrition, getting in touch with what fuels me, and dedicated to eating food that creates energy and focus, and that mission doesn’t stop just because I’m getting on a plane. This means I bought a cooler backpack and filled it with fresh veggies and lean proteins. I boiled and peeled eggs. I baked sweet potatoes. I stuffed that sack full of energizing food so that I wouldn’t be tempted to snack in the airport or be a burden to our hostess when we arrive in San Diego. Making a commitment to my wellness has been simple, but it is not easy. It’s meant meal prepping for hours every week, saying no to the plate handed to me at a fundraiser, making special requests of my family when they have me over for dinner and saying no to cocktails and my favorite dessert. This journey is still in its infancy and I have already uncovered old limiting stories: I don’t get to be the person who is accommodated. I don’t deserve to ask for special privileges. I will not be honored if I ask for what I need. It’s meant confronting the feeling that I am a burden to people when I stay committed to myself. I am so pleased to report that these old stories were just lies I told myself to feel unsupported. The truth is, everyone is rooting for me. Everyone wants me to win. Everyone has been on my team. This is a very long way to say, this food adventure isn’t really about food. Its about freedom. Freedom from food, freedom to ask for what I need and freedom from all those old stories that have kept me isolated and restricted for too long.
Achilles protected his heel. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Superman succumbed to kryptonite. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The Wicked Witch withered from a water bucket. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In the Enneagram world, we uncover how we protect our fear. We protect this soft spot because there
Achilles protected his heel. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Superman succumbed to kryptonite. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The Wicked Witch withered from a water bucket. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In the Enneagram world, we uncover how we protect our fear. We protect this soft spot because there is a fundamental belief that if it's targeted, our "self" will crumble. So we build walls to protect it, re-route battles to hide it, and defend our right to live in our fear at all costs to maintain. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here's the tricky thing with fear. It's just information. In fact, fear is our greatest source of direction. When we're triggered by fear, we have a choice. To take action to protect our fear OR to take action to launch ourselves out of it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ So next time you feel your chest tightening, your heart pounding, your anxiety rising. Stop. Wait. Listen.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What is your fear telling you? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And for a moment, stop and consider, should you believe it?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Photo credit goes to the magical @annajon.es
These are my guys. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
On the left is my love @erik.j.dominguez and on the right is my bro @hunter.warne . Can we just take a moment to talk about how handsome they are?? And how cute it is that they dressed to match each other?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
These are my guys. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ On the left is my love @erik.j.dominguez and on the right is my bro @hunter.warne . Can we just take a moment to talk about how handsome they are?? And how cute it is that they dressed to match each other?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Yesterday we went and played golf and let's just say, I'm a natural 50% of the time. My love encouraged me and told me how good I looked swinging a club, and my bro gave me all his pointers on how to get the ball to where I wanted it to go. Together, we made it through 9 holes before I declared it my dinnertime. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We laughed, sweated, and chased a tiny ball through the grass. I birdie 1 hole! And these two rode in a cart, chatted it up, and bonded the whole time. My heart is full❤️
I really want to weigh myself.

I started working with a health coach this week. I’ve been working on my wellness diligently since January and have made lots of progress but started feeling stagnant. My initial strategies were no longer working
I really want to weigh myself. I started working with a health coach this week. I’ve been working on my wellness diligently since January and have made lots of progress but started feeling stagnant. My initial strategies were no longer working. So I brought in reinforcements. In our first conversation Terri was clear that she didn’t believe in diets. Instead she wanted to create a sustainable food environment for me AND we got too find my neutral - which is going to require diligence and removing inflammatory food from my rotation. Then she listed out a food regime that can only be described by any sane person as a diet. I said, “Terri, no one who’s not on a diet eats like this,” but I hung up the phone and went to the grocery store. And I cried the whole way there. I cried because food is fun. I cried because binge eating at night feels like reward. I cried because cooking with butter feels like love. I cried because I love ice cream. I’m one week into this new adventure and I thought I’d be dying. I thought I would have found a way to cheat myself or make excuses. But that’s not happening. My energy is through the roof. My mental acuity is on point. My workouts have never been this good, I can already feel my clothes loosening and I’ll be super honest, sex is amazing. Why? Because I’m fueling my body, rather than calming my emotions. I’m paying attention to the way I feel instead of focusing on a number on the scale. I asked Terri the first day we met how often I should weigh myself and she said, “the less the better.” Because it’s not about the number. The number is a limited way to measure success. I’m shooting for the feeling, the energy, the freedom I get to experience in my body, and that, my friends, feels limitless.
This entire backpack is filled with food. 

We’re in route to San Diego for our very first family vacation AND I made a commitment to my wellness 10 days ago. I am committed to resetting my nutrition, getting in touch with what fuels me, and de Achilles protected his heel. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Superman succumbed to kryptonite. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The Wicked Witch withered from a water bucket. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In the Enneagram world, we uncover how we protect our fear. We protect this soft spot because there These are my guys. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
On the left is my love @erik.j.dominguez and on the right is my bro @hunter.warne . Can we just take a moment to talk about how handsome they are?? And how cute it is that they dressed to match each other?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I really want to weigh myself.

I started working with a health coach this week. I’ve been working on my wellness diligently since January and have made lots of progress but started feeling stagnant. My initial strategies were no longer working