Seventeen years ago, at the age of 25, my lifelong dream of becoming a mother was about to become a reality! While enjoying what was to come, I realized a mass I had shown to my doctor 6 months prior had grown larger. Within 48 hours, I had a mammogram, saw a surgeon, had a biopsy, a full mastectomy, and was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. 

As devastating as that was, the worst moment of all came when the same doctor who told me that I couldn’t possibly have cancer, announced that I “couldn’t have cancer and have a baby”.  He told me I needed to “eliminate it within the week” in order to save my life.

My world turned upside down.   Looking deep inside myself and visiting with those people closest to me, I realized over the course of that week that – like my own mother – I was willing to do whatever it would take to save both myself and my daughter.  So I set out to find answers and doctors willing to do things my way.

At the time I didn’t know anything about the American Cancer Society, but a volunteer with the Reach To Recovery program changed that. She gave me information and items to help with my recovery, but more importantly, she gave me HOPE!

 It wasn’t long before I knew that I wanted to help others through their own battles. It took a couple of years before I had the opportunity to follow through on that idea, but I found the American Cancer Society and began my lifelong journey of making a difference. All of that happened BEFORE the 800 number and website existed, and before Relay For Life was the phenomenon that it is today.

When I chaired my first Relay For Life event 13 years ago, my life changed forever. I knew without a doubt that God had big plans for me.  Even so, there’s no way I could have imagined how incredible it would feel to be involved in an organization with all of the special people that are a part of my life through Relay.

Just last month, I took the stage at my local Relay and along with my personal story, shared with everyone how I have been Fighting Back in an effort to keep my daughter healthy and free from this disease.  My pledge to Fight Back this year was to have genetic testing to find out whether I carried the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 breast cancer genes. I’ve done that and found out I am NOT a carrier!  We now know the likelihood is much less that my daughter will develop breast cancer as I did.

With that pledge completed it’s time for me to make another one. I now pledge to encourage my loved ones to be diligent in having their early detection screenings on time. That is how I plan to FIGHT BACK!

How will you FIGHT BACK?  I ask you to do whatever you can over the course of the next year, whether you do something every day, once a month, or just once this year to FIGHT BACK!  Just as I have pledged to be very proactive in keeping my beautiful 17-year-old daughter healthy and free from this disease, I urge you to pledge to do what you can do to help prevent cancer, or to detect it early, or to advocate for more research.  I urge you to FIGHT BACK against cancer!