Oct 19, 2026 · 40 min · 10 segments
Breast cancer affects everyone differently, but the struggles and challenges this community experiences are real. We’re talking openly and honestly about just how difficult a diagnosis, treatment and…
Yeah, absolutely.
And just to go off of what you said, being your own advocate is so important, especially for women our age, because though I had breast cancer in my family, I didn't have the gene.
So if you don't have that knowledge, if you feel a lump and you go to the doctor and you don't push for further testing, a lot of people are told that you're too young.
keep an eye on it, come back in six months.
And by that point, the cancer has gotten more aggressive, spread to the lymph nodes.
So it's so important to really trust your intuition and be your own self-advocate.
Following my breast cancer diagnosis, I had a lumpectomy in July, and then I had to make the very difficult decision of following through with radiation or choosing a double mastectomy, which that ultimately gave me the most peace of mind at the end of the day because I caught my cancer so early.
The survival rates were the same, but I had asked my radiologist, what are the long term effects of radiation on somebody my age? And there just wasn't enough So that scared me.
And so I chose to have the surgery.
Five weeks after my double mastectomy, I got an infection.
I was one week through all restrictions being lifted.
I woke up one day with a fever And luckily, my boyfriend hadn't left for work yet.
And he looks at me and I'm just sitting up crying because I was in so much pain.
He's like, you know, I can't go to work and leave you like this.
So we stayed home and then I was burning up.
So we actually had to go buy our thermometer because we didn't have one.
And I think my temperature was like 103.
So I texted my plastic surgeon, which I travel from Connecticut to New York and New Jersey for.
And he was just like, get here immediately.
was on IV antibiotics, what was supposed to be just like a 48-hour stay, ended up being a whole week.
But it was in that moment that I really, like my eyes became wide open to just what I was meant to do.
I found my purpose and...
I just remember my plastic surgeon coming in to check on me and I'm sitting there and as much pain as I'm in.
And, you know, of course, when I was first diagnosed, I cried from the time I opened my eyes to the time that I closed them.
Yeah, absolutely.
And just to go off of what you said, being your own advocate is so important, especially for women our age, because though I had breast cancer in my family, I didn't have the gene.
So if you don't have that knowledge, if you feel a lump and you go to the doctor and you don't push for further testing, a lot of people are told that you're too young.
keep an eye on it, come back in six months.
And by that point, the cancer has gotten more aggressive, spread to the lymph nodes.
So it's so important to really trust your intuition and be your own self-advocate.
Following my breast cancer diagnosis, I had a lumpectomy in July, and then I had to make the very difficult decision of following through with radiation or choosing a double mastectomy, which that ultimately gave me the most peace of mind at the end of the day because I caught my cancer so early.
The survival rates were the same, but I had asked my radiologist, what are the long term effects of radiation on somebody my age? And there just wasn't enough So that scared me.
And so I chose to have the surgery.
Five weeks after my double mastectomy, I got an infection.
I was one week through all restrictions being lifted.
I woke up one day with a fever And luckily, my boyfriend hadn't left for work yet.
And he looks at me and I'm just sitting up crying because I was in so much pain.
He's like, you know, I can't go to work and leave you like this.
So we stayed home and then I was burning up.
So we actually had to go buy our thermometer because we didn't have one.
And I think my temperature was like 103.
So I texted my plastic surgeon, which I travel from Connecticut to New York and New Jersey for.
And he was just like, get here immediately.
was on IV antibiotics, what was supposed to be just like a 48-hour stay, ended up being a whole week.
But it was in that moment that I really, like my eyes became wide open to just what I was meant to do.
I found my purpose and...
I just remember my plastic surgeon coming in to check on me and I'm sitting there and as much pain as I'm in.
And, you know, of course, when I was first diagnosed, I cried from the time I opened my eyes to the time that I closed them.
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