In Loving Memory of Bevin Songer Niehaus-Greene

April 21, 1969 - September 22, 2020.

In Loving Memory of Michele Adria Cahill 

March 16, 1953 - December 17, 2024.

In Loving Memory of Christy Ciancio Katler

February 17, 1973 - January 26, 2025.

I’ve had a difficult time coming up with my letter this year. 2024 ended and 2025 began with breast cancer taking two of my friends, two women I had so much respect and love for. They fought long and hard, but as we know, cancer doesn’t care how incredible a person you are. It’s been a rude awakening losing two of my “metastatic survivors” and a reminder that you never know how much time we have left on this earth.  

In December, a wonderful mother,  grandmother, and my dear friend, Michele Cahill, passed away after her 9-year battle with breast cancer. I met Michele in Arizona at our Colorado river home away from home and she was such fun to be around. Regardless of how she was feeling, she was always so positive and up to having a good time.

Michele was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She went through her treatments and came out with success, as a survivor. She continued with her regular checkups as required and continued to be “cancer free” for 4 years. However, in 2019, during one of those regular checkups, she heard the five words as a survivor, NEVER want to hear…“Your breast cancer has returned”…”and it has metastasized”. She was no longer a survivor, but a Metastatic fighter/survivor. Metastatic means cancer has moved from the breast in other parts of the body. It’s classified as Stage IV, which is not curable. She would be going through different medications and treatments for the remainder of her life.

Michele lost her fun-loving husband, John in 2019, then she was hit with that devastating news. Talk about major life events…learning to live your life, fighting, without your soul mate! But that didn’t stop her from continuing the battle. In November, Michele was in Henderson for the birth of her new granddaughter, Abby, born on the 13th. At the time, she was fighting a UTI and flew home on the 20th for chemo, which she wasn’t able to do because of the severity of the UTI. Michele was back in Henderson when she was admitted to the hospital The last message, I received from Michele on Nov 21 was a picture of beautiful baby Abby and her telling me how she was “taking a crazy beating from the UTI”.  Evidently, her body didn’t have the strength to fight the infection off.

Michele passed away on December 17, 2024. You can’t imagine how devastated I was to get this news. Completely out of nowhere, hadn’t had any other setbacks I was aware of, absolutely not expected. Many times, it sounds terrible to say, but you have an idea that the end is near, not Michele…I never got to say goodbye and that’s the hardest thing for me. I texted Michele on Christmas and never heard back from her. Figured she was busy…Never imagined what I was going to learn just a few days later when we met up with everybody at the river. I had brought a Metastatic Survivor shirt from the 2024 walk for her, and she wasn’t ever going to be there again. I was completely caught off guard and I miss her smiling face dearly.  

The start of 2025 was unfortunately like the ending of 2024…more devastating news.  

I didn’t know Christy when she found out she had breast cancer. Only 41 years young, in 2014, Christy found a lump, but it wasn’t  her priority at that moment and by far not the worst thing she would experience…her life had just been turned upside down. Kayla, Christy’s 21-year-old daughter, had just suffered a fatal aneurism at 29.3 weeks pregnant. Fortunately, the doctors were able to save the beautiful baby boy she was carrying, but unable to save Kayla. Brayden spent months in NICU fighting for his life. As you can imagine, worrying if her grandson, the gift Kayla was able to deliver before she passed, will survive,11 weeks premature, a lump was the furthest thing from her mind.

Once they learned Brayden was out of the danger zone and he would be released from the hospital, a healthy little man, she was finally able to focus on herself, and finally the ability to mourn her daughter. Unfortunately, by the time Christy made it to the doctor on October 14th, 2014, Christy was diagnosed with Stage III BC. I can’t even begin to imagine going through everything God had thrown at Christy and her family.

I met Christy a bit after her diagnosis. My daughter Courtney wanted to collect donations instead of birthday presents for her 14th birthday to give to somebody in need. A mutual friend told us about Christy and her situation and Courtney wanted to collect donations for the baby angel Kayla brought into this world. After her birthday party, we met Christy for the first time and Courtney presented her with some collected baby items and about $300 in gift cards. Yes, Courtney was at one time a sweet little girl lol…man, how things change 

About two years after her original diagnosis of Stage III, Christy was elevated to Stage IV as the cancer had metastasized quickly. Christy fought relentlessly for 9 more years, 9 fricking years with Metastatic Breast Cancer, medication and treatments for 9 years…It takes an exceptional person to fight through 9 years of constant pain and hell as the cancer continues to grow and spread to different parts of your body.  Christy Katler was an incredibly strong, positive, spitfire of a woman and was taken by the cancer 11 years after her original diagnosis at age 41, Christy passed away with her family by her side, 22 days before her 52nd birthday, on January 26th, 2025.

If you’ve been with me over the years, you are aware of one of the reasons I started walking in the Komen walks. My amazing journey took off when my friend Bevin, who at the young age of 49, was diagnosed with BC. She fought aggressively with her husband, Matt and her family cheering her on day after day. She tried many different treatment methods, including treatments outside of the U.S.…however, that demon they call cancer took her from us after just 2 years & 9 months of her diagnosis, regardless of aggressively searching for a gift from God, to be a survivor. Bevin is by far one of the strongest women I know. The last text I received from Bevin on August 12th, a little over a month before her passing, was her reaching out to help ME with a situation I was having. A dying woman still trying to help friends through their difficult times. Amazing woman! Bevin passed on September 22nd, 2020.  

I apologize for the bummer start of a letter, but this is how cancer hits us, family & friends. I hope none of you have similar stories, however, most people I meet, unfortunately do have a BC story, far too many of them. This is exactly why I do what I do…I walk 60-miles over 2 ½ days, twice a year and I still feel like it’s not enough. I am required to raise a minimum of $2300 per event in order to participate. Year after year, since my first walk in 2021, after 6 walks, you all amaze me. I have donors who donate every year, I have donors who donate on occasion, I get new donors every year, and I lose donors. No matter which you fall under, I cannot express who much you and your generosity mean to me. You are helping me fight the fight and are part of my pink bubble.

I’ve raised almost $22k, 6 walks to date for this amazing cause. 2025 will give me my 7th and 8th walks and I have a personal goal which I’m hoping to crush. This year, I’m planning to participate in 2 events for my 3rd year in a row. I will be walking in Denver, CO, August 1-3, as well as San Diego, November 14-16. I was  planning on doing New England again with my team, however, after they announced this will be the last year in Denver, I didn’t want to miss my chance of going to Denver for the walk. Each city brings its own interesting tone to the walk. Nothing has compared even close to San Diego though. My favorite city by far!

Komen supports so many different programs for fighters, survivors and their families, in addition to providing funding for many different research programs to find a cure. As I mentioned, almost every person I know has a story…has a friend, grandmother, mother, sister, aunt, daughter, grandfather, father, brother, son or uncle who may have been affected…share your story with me and help me in my fight. There is no donation too small…

My Mother-In-Law, a BC survivor, my husband, Guy and my daughter, Courtney each carry the BRCA2 gene which gives them a significantly higher chance of being diagnosed with BC, in addition to many other types of cancer. I’m not only walking for my mother-in-law, my husband, my daughter & the people in my life, but also for those people in your lives who are fighting, have lost the battle, survived the battle, and for those who may be unfortunate to hear those 4 words…”You have Breast Cancer.”  The only thing I can do is walk my ass off to raise money and continue to hope we can find a cure in my lifetime, for the lifetimes to come.

I’m in search for at least one corporate donor, won’t complain for more, so if you know anybody who owns a company who donates to great causes, please pass along my story, site address or my number to contact me. I would love to be able to participate in more walks in a year, but donations are the hardest part of the whole event.

 Thank you again  from the  deepest part of my heart!

Sincerely, with Love,

(805) 857-4201