Fabiana Vicente

Survivor

My name is Fabiana. I am Brazilian. At 23 I discovered I had breast cancer, I was in shock because I was very young, and at the same time a relief washed over me because I discovered I had a chance to heal. I went to several doctors and they told me I was not old enough to get breast cancer, but something inside me told me not to give up because something was wrong. I got the diagnosis on August 29, 2006 and began a battle against this disease. I did chemotherapy, radical mastectomy with axillary dissection, radiation, and only after all the treatment did the reconstruction, it was very difficult, but I have a daughter who, at the time, was only 3 years old and needed me. I won the battle. It has been a life lesson. The cure depends on us, because we cannot ever give in, we have to fight so that the disease is not the winner, and we can have a quality of life. Many women think they cannot have children anymore and lose the hopes, I wanted to tell them that it is possible, my dream one day is to be able to participate in the walk with you, and to be able to tell my story to the world to give hope to all women.