Personal Stories
A month after Tennille Smith rang the bell, signaling she had finished treatment for stage 2 breast cancer, she learned the cancer had spread – she had stage 4 (metastatic) breast cancer, for which there is no cure today. Finding a Lump In February 2021, Tennille felt a lump in her right breast and reached out to her […]
Frances is an advocate for yearly mammograms. She promised her mother that when she turned 40, she would get her mammogram yearly, a promise she kept. In 2017, Frances learning she had stage 2B triple-positive breast cancer.
During the summer of 2022, Casey, who was 33 at the time, felt off. “Something just didn’t feel right,” she said. She asked her doctor to run bloodwork. “They ran all sorts of tests, but everything came back perfectly fine, no issues. But I still didn’t feel quite right.” Casey never expected a breast cancer diagnosis.
Whitney was a caregiver for her mother and grandmother when they were undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Genetic testing showed Whitney has a 35% chance of developing the disease.
After her breast cancer diagnosis, Serena had to decide whether a lumpectomy or mastectomy was right for her. “I talked to the surgeon and the plastic surgeon and learned more,” Serena said. “I got as much information as I could.”
When Lisa was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, her wife was pregnant with their first child. Four years later, as they waiting for the birth of their second child, Lisa learned the cancer was back and had metastasized (spread). “It was a gut punch,” she said. “It was like déjà vu all over again.”
In 2022, Heather very nearly cancelled her annual mammogram. If she had, the course of her life would likely have changed dramatically. “I almost skipped it, and it probably would have cost me my life,” Heather said. That mammogram revealed a spot on Heather’s breast. A biopsy confirmed she had breast cancer.
Natalie was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2023. “This journey has changed me in ways I never imagined. It has taken pieces of me, but it has also revealed a strength I didn’t know I had,” she said. “I’m a mother, a survivor, a fighter, a mentor and someone who has learned to live fully, embracing both the visible and invisible scars that cancer has left behind.”
Brett learned she had breast cancer when her third son was 3 months old. “I was 37 at the time, so I’d never had a mammogram and likely wouldn’t have until I was 40,” Brett said. “I’ve always been healthy, I had no issues with childbirth. Nothing like breast cancer was on my radar.”
In May 2024, Heather learned she had early-stage breast cancer. She has volunteered to be a part of three research studies. “Hopefully I’ll help other women with breast cancer,” she said.
Breast cancer has been a long-standing part of Megan’s family history. When Megan was just 12 years old, her mother was diagnosed at age 34, navigating her diagnosis while raising three young children. “She just kept going,” Megan recalled of her mother who was initially told the lump she felt while breastfeeding was a clogged […]
Marnie, an artist and muralist from Texas, learned she had stage 2 breast cancer in 2016.“The diagnosis was a complete shock. I’d always been healthy,” Marnie said. “I didn’t feel my cancer. I had no symptoms at all.”
