Gabriela Lara

Living with MBC

Breast Cancer at 24

Hello,

My name is Gabriela and I was diagnosed with stage 4 IDC in August of 2023. My life was normal as can be, I had a daughter in 2021 and when I started breastfeeding I felt a lump on my breast but I disregarded it as being dried up milk. So it went on like that until March 2023 when I accidentally hit myself on my breast right where the lump was. And just like that the lump started growing and protruding out of my skin and that’s when I knew that I may have breast cancer.

I automatically thought the worst because my aunt 10 years prior had passed away from breast cancer and I just knew I was destined for breast cancer. So after the biopsy in August 3 weeks later my doctor called me in for an appointment and broke the news to me. I didn’t cry as she told me the news but when I got home I broke down looking at my sweet almost 2 year old daughter.

From then on everything just rushed my mind of possibly leaving my daughter alone and realizing that I only got 2 years with her. I talked to God that night and told him that my life was in his hands but to please let me see my daughter grow up because I was going to fight this til the very end.

In February after a PET scan showed that the cancer was almost completely gone so I went into remission but 2 months later I noticed the site where the cancer first started protruding on my breast was growing again and after another PET scan the cancer had began to spread again.

The oncologist determined the first Chemo stopped working for me so he put me on a different one quickly. With the first Chemo I didn’t feel no side affects besides exhaustion but with the new one I’m feeling the nausea, the vomiting, the exhaustion to a degree I’ve never experienced before but that’s how I know it’s working. It’s been one year since I began fighting this disease and I’m going to keep fighting until it’s gone because I will see my daughter grow up to become a beautiful woman and get married and have kids.