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. 

I want to share my story for all those ladies who have dense breasts and encourage you to check your girls often. I could have avoided some of the last 18 months had I known my yearly mammograms would not pick up my tumor due to my dense breasts. So here goes, I fainted in a restaurant twice in February 2023 and ended up in the Dartmouth General for a week having many scans, tests and blood work. They concluded they thought I had a mini stroke possibly due to Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)which I had been on for 6 years to help with menopause symptoms. Side effects of HRT include small risk of stroke and breast cancer. Then in July I had an appendix rupture and ended up in the Truro hospital for another week. During my stay they did more scans and then finally a chest scan to see why my O2 was remaining low and found a 3.5cm breast lump as an incidental finding. As a result they did a mammogram and an ultrasound and basically told me they were pretty sure it was breast cancer. I then had a biopsy in August and it was confirmed I had two types of breast cancer, IDC stage 2 and DCIS. Funny side note, the same day they confirmed my cancer I also tested positive for covid so was thinking the cancer was killing me quickly, but it was just the covid.  All humour aside and not going to lie, was feeling pretty defeated at that point. I then had a lumpectomy in October and 20 rounds of radiation in Feb. Unfortunately my journey did not end there, I ended up with a complication from radiation and pneumonia and was sick another 8 weeks. I am still on strong meds to fight the infection but feel I am finally getting back on my feet. The bright side of my journey is that my doctors have confirmed the unrelated chest scan from the appendix rupture likely saved my life so talk about a silver lining. Again I share all of this with you as this could have all been avoided had my yearly mammogram picked up my tumor. My tumor had been growing for years. If you have dense breast ladies, please please advocate for your self and ask for additional screening. Lastly, please do frequent self exams, my tumor was large enough that I should have picked it up but was not diligent with my self exams. I can assure my girls are no longer neglected.

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.