Those are the words we heard on 5/3/22. We were considered Stage I and would only need radiation because the cancer was not showing to have spread to any other parts of my body. I was elated because it meant I could keep my beautiful strawberry blonde hair. But after undergoing a lumpectomy, we learned the cancer was in my lymph nodes so we would need to go through a very harsh regimen of chemo. I immediately started researching cold capping to preserve my hair. Did you know that a lot of people see changes in their hair color and/or texture when it regrows? I would be lost without my recognizable locks, so I was willing to do anything to keep them. But before we were scheduled to start chemo, we requested a PET scan to be sure we knew what we were fighting. On 9/23/22, our world was rattled to the core when we found out the cancer had spread to my lungs and spine. We were restaged as Stage IV, Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC). MBC is not curable, so our treatment moved from curative to palliative. We came home and sat on the couch. My thoughts were not positive, and the tears flowed for hours & hours. But that same night, we started oral chemo meds. Thanks to amazing research and trials, the meds had proven to stabilize and shrink the tumors in certain cases. After 3 months of oral chemo, we repeated the PET scan and the results said, "no evidence of metabolically active malignancy." Basically, it meant the cancer was gone! Tears flowed again, but this time, they were happy tears. We repeated the PET scans every 3 months in 2023, and each time, the results said the same thing. In 2024, we spaced the scans out to every 4 months to lessen the amount of radiation we were exposed to. The results were still clean and clear! “No evidence of active disease”, or NEAD for short, is mind blowing and fantastic to hear, but we are always cautiously optimistic because we know the tumors will be active again someday. By then, we hope there will be more treatment options available to us. That's why we are choosing to support the Susan G. Komen foundation. They provide funds for ground-breaking research, support for survivors and their families, and advocate for patient rights.

If you re-read all of that, you will see I use the words “we”, “us” and “our”. That’s intentional because this fight is so much more than just about me. It’s about my husband, Chris, and about our kids, Kaitlyn and Matthew. This fight is about our entire family and all of our friends. This fight is about future generations so they will never hear the words “not curable”.

Please support me as I commit to an incredible challenge. The Susan G. Komen 3-day is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. In 2023, I joined this event for the first time and fell completely in love with it and the people! So much so, that I signed up for 2024 while sitting on my bed after an incredibly rainy and miserable day 2. My heart decided this will be an event I do year after year, so I signed up again for 2025. The 60 miles is hard, but it’s not as hard as learning you have breast cancer. That's why I'm walking and why I'm raising money - to end breast cancer FOREVER!