About this campaign
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?You have Stage 1 Breast Cancer.?
I never thought I?d hear those words.
I went for my first mammogram on July 5, 2024, shortly after turning 40. Unfortunately, before I even left the facility, they told me they had found something concerning.What followed were countless tests, scans, and biopsies ? procedures I truly hope no one else ever has to experience ? just to confirm the diagnosis.
With the guidance of my surgical oncologist in Sparta NJ, an incredible team at MSK, and my childhood best friend (who grew up to become an oncologist herself ), I decided to move forward with a lumpectomy, breast reduction, and lymph node biopsy in mid-September.
At first, we thought everything was behind me. But soon after surgery, I learned they hadn?t removed all of the cancer on my right side because the margins were larger than expected. They were also unable to complete the lymph node biopsy because the mapping injection failed ( I was told the chances of that happening was less than one percent). On top of that, the breast reduction unexpectedly revealed precancerous cells on my left side.
At that point, it felt like luck just wasn?t on my side, so to squash my fears, I made the difficult decision to undergo a double mastectomy at the end of November of that year and reconstruction the following April.
Finally, just before Christmas in 2024, I received the news I had been praying for: all of my pathology results came back clear, and my lymph nodes were benign. I never needed chemotherapy, and after the mastectomy, I no longer needed radiation either. For now, my treatment plan consists of hormone therapy for a minimum of five years.
Since then I have made it my mission to be loud about woman's health and be that reminder for ladies my age. I always say thank God I followed the general rule of getting your first mammogram done at age 40. I was already in stage one at that point having absolutely no clue.
Imagine what it would have been, if I waited on that mammo!!
It would mean a lot if some of you can walk with me in october!
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