On January 5th, 2024, my surgical oncologist broke the news to me — I had stage 1, grade 3 breast cancer. Despite discovering I had the BRCA 1 gene (the gene most commonly affected in hereditary breast cancer) 9 years before my diagnosis, I never thought it would happen to me. As a 31-year-old new mother, my very first thoughts were, “What will happen to my 1-year-old daughter?”. How will I be able to care for and provide for her with 6 months of chemo and a double mastectomy waiting for me? I thought about the countless ways a mother impacts her child’s life and I worried. Fortunately, I have a village behind me; a support network willing and able to lend a hand and help me through the process in any way I needed them to. 

That got me thinking — how do people without adequate support make it through this awful time? I believe that nobody who receives a cancer diagnosis should ever have to worry about their finances or lack of resources. That is why I’ve decided to share my journey, raise awareness and create a movement to ensure all people living with cancer have the support and resources they require. 

1 in 8 women are diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Canada. Through this movement my goal is to ensure that these women are not alone in their fight and to work towards a better future for all our daughters.