Thank you for taking the time to read Nikki's story! These are her words:

"I am 36 years old and earlier this year I was diagnosed with stage 3 HER-2 positive breast cancer. I am a mama to two beautiful daughters, my youngest being 6 months and breastfeeding at the time of my diagnosis. It’s definitely not something I really thought I would face at my age and in this stage of my life, but here I am! And that’s why I want to make sure everyone knows what to look for and to never dismiss signals even if you can chalk it all up to “crazy hormones”! 

Firstly, I had a lump. I have pretty cystic breasts anyway, and got this lump checked a year prior - it was fine then. The lump changed during pregnancy and breastfeeding though, and eventually this was an unmistakable hard mass. In my case, it became large very quickly (7cm by 4cm) and was kind of a tubular shape. I had shooting pains through my breasts, and through my nipples during feeding. Not sure it was all related, but the pain is not to be ignored! I was having night sweats. There I was blaming our thermostat and my crazy hormones for my waking up sweating profusely in the night, but found out later that this is a symptom of having breast cancer. 

My breast became an irregular shape, kind of warped looking. My lymph felt tender and a bit swollen, and my skin where the lump was changed. It looked porous. I know now this to be the “orange peel” effect. In hindsight these are red flags that *should* have been picked up pretty easily, but given breastfeeding, hormones, previous cysts, and maybe a bit of denial, it was quite easy to not be super proactive about this. But I should have been! If I had of, it may not have spread to my lymph’s on the left side. 

However! I am beyond grateful we caught it when we did and not any further. Given my age, and the aggressive nature of my cancer, my treatment was to start with chemotherapy and immunotherapy upfront, then do surgery. Now 6 rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy later, I am very grateful to say that my tumour has shrunk to less than 2cm! So I am waiting on more scans and then surgery. I feel very hopeful about my recovery, though I do have to tackle those pesky doubtful thoughts on the daily about what ifs or how will I keep it away. 

It’s been an extraordinarily hard journey as it would be for anyone. For me the hardest is the ways that it has impacted my daughters negatively. I hope that I can more than make it up to them when I am recovered. Onwards and upwards for us I say! 

Thank you for reading this, thank you to beautiful Nicole for setting up this page and getting us all together to fight and show support for all of us affected by breast cancer. We have all been affected by this one way or another. I believe the love, prayers, support and good thoughts I was sent are what allowed me to stay positive in the beginning which kept me from spiraling. I don’t know if people realize the profound impact it has to check in, show love, cheer you on, watch your kids while you’re in appointments, make you a chemo bag. They are literally all life lines. My family, friends, friends of friends, anyone who has been kind to me through this journey. I cannot thank you enough. I literally love and appreciate you all! See you out there on the 6th! I will most definitely be walking though haha ❤"

To show my support for the thousands of Canadians diagnosed with breast cancer every year, I am participating and fundraising for this year’s Canadian Cancer Society CIBC Run for the Cure. 

 

With your help, I can reach my fundraising goal and make a life-changing difference for so many people. Every dollar I raise will fund groundbreaking breast cancer research and support programs and services for those impacted by this disease. 

 

Please donate today. I believe better treatment options and survival outcomes are possible. Together, we can give Canadians impacted by breast cancer a reason to have hope. And we can help change the future for all. 

 

Thank you! I appreciate your generous support.