Miranda Wray TeamMiranda

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. Feel free to read my story and diagnosis below. I am sharing from what we know and my heart.


August 30, 2021 our lives changed. The lump I found in my right breast (just one week prior) came back as cancer and I was diagnosed with triple negative invasive ductal carcinoma. Triple-negative breast cancer differs from other types of invasive breast cancers because it can grow and spread faster, has limited treatment options (chemotherapy is the only option but hopefully with continued research in this space that wont be the case years from now), and a worse prognosis. As you can imagine not what we were praying or hoping for but we have to focus on the positives and that was finding a lump and the doctors reacting so quickly to formulate a plan to get me healthy. Thank you GR for having such amazing hospitals and doctors. I had met with my OB on Wednesday, Aug 22 an appointment I already had scheduled from a year ago as a post check up from Ari. Told the nurse I found a lump and during breast exam we were talking and she missed it. Not because she's a bad doctor because my lump is in a very very odd spot for breast cancer. Its underneath my boob where your underwire of bra is by my ribs... Most women feel them in upper corner by armpits. So that was amazing that I found it and was able to show her. She said she would send over an urgent mammogram to Betty Ford Breast Specialist downtown and told me call me by Friday if they haven't called. I got a call at noon that Thursday saying can you come in at 3:30 for an appointment. Thankful for our wonderful neighbor community we were able to make it happen. I asked the mammogram tech if she saw it and her eyes lit up... and I knew right then in there. She sent me to a room with a radiologist some nurses and my husband and that's when we talked about the what ifs of cancer and plan and care. The radiologist said I am concerned with the lump and an abnormal lymph node and I want to biopsy them right away. They fit me into an already booked Friday so I didn't have to go through the weekend waiting longer. That Monday I got the results. I was devastated but I just knew it was cancer. I think that I was "ok" because I know some pretty incredible women who have battled this disease and come out so much stronger and survivors. The first experience I had was when my mother was diagnosed in May 2007. Gosh I will never forget that phone call in college I was a wreck yet she was so brave. My mom has always been strong. I am happy to say she's been a survivor for 14 years and I can not thank God enough for this. Moms journey is different then mine, different diagnosis, different times, and different treatments with modern medicine. She underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction which was hard as HECK but was fortunate to not have to do radiation or chemotherapy. The word chemotherapy scares me more then the word cancer. So as you can imagine when we were told I would be starting chemotherapy for 5 months we lost all our hope and strength but only for a few hours :) I have started chemotherapy. A total of 16 treatments which will take us into January 2022. After chemo I will be undergoing surgery which most likely will be a double mastectomy followed by reconstruction. This is just the beginning of a very long and unfair journey.


My chemo schedule is as follows: Right now I have 4 treatments every other week its a higher dose and also can be known as the red devil. The drug is called AC which is a combination of two chemotherapy drugs used to treat breast cancer. It takes its name from the initials of these drugs: doxorubicin (also known as Adriamycin) cyclophosphamide. My first treatment was Sept 21, treatment #2 10/5, treatment #3  10/19 and last one for this drug is 11/2. 


After that I will start weekly treatments for 12 weeks of a different chemotherapy called taxol. This will bring us into the new year. Then the surgeries begin about a month or so after the treatments. 


Good news is MRI came back showing that the cancer is only in the lump and has not spread to lymph nodes. After my third treatment, I will go back to my surgeon to do an ultrasound on the lump in hopes that the chemo has mad it shrink. So prayer warriors this is a specific ask. We want the chemo to kill these bad cell in my bad and keep the healhty cells doing what they need to do.


We are still waiting on the gene mutation for the brac gene and hoping that I do not have this mutation so continued prayers are appreciated. Waiting is hard. 


Thanks for being in this FIGHT with me! love you all!
Miranda, Garett, Gavin, and Arianna Wray