Fight Pink–September 17, 2010–I have always been a fairly optimistic person, looking for the sunnier side of every situation. My journey with breast cancer has been no different.  I was diagnosed with breast cancer on April 14, 2008. The radiologist was nice enough to wait until Monday morning to give me the results of my biopsy. The next six months were a whirlwind of decisions, surgeries, hospital visits and doctors’ appointments.

It was a scary time, but my doctor assured me I’d be fine. My baby boy was just 4 months old at the time of my diagnosis. I had to wean him in two weeks and by April 22 I checked into the hospital for a radical mastectomy to my left breast. The official report was HER-2 positive, ER/PR negative with 22/30 lymph nodes positive for cancer. I met with my oncologist for the first time on May 2, the day of my husband’s 34th birthday. I didn’t fully understand the severity of the diagnosis until the oncologist explained that because so many lymph nodes were infected, there was a real possibility that the cancer had spread. She matter of factly told me that if the cancer had spread, there was no cure and I would have about 2 years to live. I felt the room spinning and almost fainted. All I could think about at that moment was who would take care of my kids if I died!

We scheduled a PET Scan and while I waiting for my turn on the machine,  I prayed like I had never prayed before. I felt like God talked to me and told me I was going to be fine.  After that, a type of peace settled over me.  The PET scan showed the cancer had not spread.  I went through 6 months of chemotherapy, 2 months of radiation and then an additional 9 months of treatment with Herceptin. Two and a half years later I am still officially cancer-free.

My campaign in life right now is to educate younger women about breast cancer with the following message:

#1 Know Yourself

That means monthly breast exams so that you are familiar with what your breasts feel like. If a lump starts to develop, you’ll be able to find it right away. I checked my breasts every month and found the lump when it was very small. Unfortunately my doctor did not think the lump was anything to worry about and I wasn’t officially diagnosed until more than a year later. Which brings me to my second point.

#2 Be Your Own Advocate

If you find a lump, go to the doctor right away and make sure they definitively know it is not cancer before sending you home.  Who knows, if the lump I found in April 2007 had been biopsied, they might have discovered the cancer at a Stage 0 or 1 and I wouldn’t have had to go through the extensive treatment that I did.

#3 Support the Fight Against Breast Cancer

There are so many organizations out there that support breast cancer awareness and research. Support them in any way you can.  One of the reasons I can talk to you today is because of the amazing strides that have been made in breast cancer research. I was diagnosed in 2008, just two short years before in 2006, the drug Herceptin was approved for treatment in lower stage HER-2 positive patients. Herceptin has been found to decrease the chance of recurrence in a type of breast cancer that tends to be more aggressive than other types. Without the billions of dollars that go into breast cancer research, treatments like Herceptin would only be a dream.

I said at the beginning of this post that I always look for the sunnier side of every situation. Well, amazingly having breast cancer has opened me up to opportunities that I never imagined I would have. Recently, fellow survivors Lisa Katharina Messer, Ashley Slagle and myself were chosen as the faces of the 2010 Under Armour Power in Pink campaign. It is a national program that honors women who use fitness and exercise in the fight against breast cancer. Under Armour donates a portion of sales from its high performance Power in Pink line to charities that support breast cancer awareness, early detection, treatment and recovery. You can read more about this campaign by clicking here.

In addition to the awesome opportunity with Under Armour, I get a chance to talk to women every day and educate them about breast cancer. Someone recently posted this on their Facebook page – “GOD can turn a MESS into a MESSage, a TEST into a TESTimony, a TRIal into a TRIump, a VICtim into a VICTory.”  In my case that is definitely true.