I’ve told my story a few times over the years and it’s funny how it evolves as I get older and my perspective changes.

So I’m going to start with where I am now! I’m 45 years old, married to an amazing man and we’ve built this pretty spectacular life together with our 9 year old son. All of this is sometimes hard to even believe after everything that’s happened. 

When I was 29, 16 years ago, after a long day of wearing a sports bra I found a pea size lump in my right breast. After a visit to a walk in and not being taken seriously, I finally went to my family doctor, had an ultra sound, my first mammogram and a needle biopsy…it had to come out. The lumpectomy showed that I would need 8 rounds of chemo and radiation. Life sort of stood still. I lost my hair, I felt like crap, my bones ached, went through menopause but I had amazing doctors and couldn’t have done it without my family and friends.

After my treatment I made the really difficult decision to have a double mastectomy and reconstruction. I agonized over this decision but when the pathology came back with pre-cancerous cells in the breast tissue removed, I knew I’d done the right thing.

So now I had to re-enter the dating world with a broken heart (as the relationship I’d been in didn’t make it through this chapter) and scars that I wasn’t sure I could ever bare to anyone. 

And here’s where we circle back to today. 5 years after I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I pulled myself together, met my husband online and had my miracle baby.

My story has changed this year again. I lost my Mom a year and a half ago and can’t tell this story without thinking about her. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 19. She went through her own journey and I know when I was diagnosed that she would’ve done anything to make it her and not me. She was at every appointment with me, beside me after surgeries, sitting with me on those bad days after chemo and there was no one happier on the day Nate was born then she was.

Supporting breast cancer research has always been important for my family. My mom, my aunt and my sister all have their own stories and we just hope that the money we’ve raised over the years will make a difference. 

 
Thanks in advance for your support!