Anna and her husband, Jordan, know all too well that one moment can change everything. In 2016, they were parents to a young son and talking about expanding their family.
But on her birthday that year, Anna found a lump. Two weeks later, Anna learned she had triple positive breast cancer. “The most painful thought was leaving my husband and son behind,” she said. “I didn’t know what to think.” She was just 37.
“Being diagnosed as a young mom was very hard,” Anna recalled. “I remember holding my son at night and thinking I won’t leave you, I will do everything possible to stay and be with you.”
Anna’s treatment included a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and HER2- targeted therapies.
Anna and Jordan are professional photographers. They decided to document Anna’s experiences while she was in treatment, wanting to show not just the clinical and medical sides of treatment, but the human side as well.
“We went from talking about having a second kid, to suddenly thrown into no more kids, breast cancer and…your whole life is just upside down,” Anna said. “I was taking a lot of selfies and was looking at myself, trying to understand how a body that two years before gave life…it really did feel like a deep betrayal because I went from something so amazing, to possibly dying.”
Today, the couple photograph others going through breast cancer treatment. Although Anna is finished with treatment and scans show no evidence of disease, the thought of a breast cancer recurrence is never far from their minds. “It never leaves us,” Jordan said. “I think you’re always aware of it.”
Sharing the stories of others undergoing treatment has helped the couple show that no one is immune from breast cancer. “I’m grateful to share my story and the stories of other breast cancer survivors,” Anna said.
