09/16/2026
October is breast cancer awareness month. Everyone knows the pink ribbon. Everyone knows Susan G. Komen.
What we DON’T all know:
-Every diagnosis and treatment is different.
-Regardless of your treatment, your body is changed in some form or fashion FOREVER. You are not “done” or “finished”. There will always be another side effect or symptom or risk for recurrence, more scans, more scan anxiety, long term hormone therapy, endocrine therapy, etc.
-Almost 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Look around at your mom circle, your neighborhood friends, your family members. 1 in 8 will be faced with this awful journey at some point.
-Risk factors: having children after 35, not breastfeeding, starting your period before age 12, family history of breast cancer
Two years ago at age 40, I scheduled a routine mammogram. I learned I have dense tissue and would likely need an ultrasound. The results came back with one abnormal spot, so I scheduled the ultrasound. Right on the table after my ultrasound, the radiologist biopsied two abnormal lumps and the adjacent lymph nodes. One week later I received the results that would change our lives in an instant.
16 rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and full lymph node removal (26 under my left arm), 20 rounds of radiation, one latissmus dorsi flap reconstruction surgery, I am now considered cancer free with “no evidence of cancer”. I have 3-5 years of an aggressive treatment of a CDK4/6 inhibitor, aromatase inhibitor, and 10 years of a hormone blocker.
I NEVER felt a lump. My doctors NEVER felt a lump. I have zero family history of breast cancer. I did all the genetic testing and it is all negative. I never thought in a million years this would be my journey… Yet here I am.
The pink ribbon made me angry at first. What in the world did it do for ME? I was still blindsided, uninformed and totally clueless about what it meant. My goal with this next month of pink ribbons is to tell everyone as much as they’re willing to listen and hear: it matters. The awareness matters, your health matters, and I am an open book when it comes to my own personal journey.
So buy the shirt, wear your pink and let’s spread awareness about the REALITY of what that pink ribbon means.
