Personal Stories

"In the back of my mind I worried about local recurrence, but never knew things could change so dramatically."

"Triple negative is not a death sentence. Many of us are still thriving after diagnosis."

"I try and live every day like I would have before breast cancer invaded not just my body but my life."

"Once I'm up and moving, I have hours and hours where I feel okay, some moments where I feel terrific."

"MBC is always there — it doesn't overwhelm me or prevent me from enjoying life, but it has put its shadowy filter over everything."

“I am strong-willed and strong physically, which served me well during treatment and continues to serve me well. I am honored and grateful to still be here and be able to serve others.”

"No amount of regrets or second guessing was going to change anything, but what was I going to make out of it?"

"We have to accept there’s no going back. It’s either lemons or lemonade."

"I’m going to do everything in my power just to be here for them and to create the memories I didn’t get to create with my mother'."

"No doctor, nurse, or mammogram technician had ever suggested or even mentioned genetic testing to me."

"It looked like everything was okay: negative BRCA1 and 2. But 2 weeks later the other big panel revealed positive PALB2 and CHEK2 mutations."

"Learn to allow people to help you, this is not always easy."

"There were a lot of blessings in the horrible diagnosis.”

"Bugsy doesn't allow me time to stop and think about what's happened to me. "

"Feelings of shame and stigma came washing back to me, and I decided to do the one thing we are not supposed to do — tell people about my diagnosis."

"The thought crossed my mind, 'What about me?' I was exactly the age she was the first time around."

"It took an ultrasound to find not one, but two lumps."

"When I was talking to my doctor, he knew how bad my self-esteem was related to my breasts and his goal was to give me exactly what I wanted."

"I always knew that some day the phone would ring and a doctor's voice would tell me that I have breast cancer. "

"From the moment I was diagnosed, I was pretty certain of my surgery choice and reconstruction method."

They said, ‘You’re now metastatic — you have 2 years to live and should start getting your affairs in order.’ And I told them we had to figure out another plan.