IMAGINE not realizing it is your birthday or your wedding anniversary until the very next day…  I woke up on August 15th, 2018 and realized that 5 years and a day ago I got the dreaded phone call...”you have C-A-N-C-E-R.”  I was 32 years old with a 16 month old baby.  Fast forward through 6 rounds of chemotherapy, double mastectomies and reconstruction, 33 rounds of radiation, a hysterectomy /oophorectomy, daily medication and the PTSD with every bump and pain.  Today I am thrilled to shout that five years later I still have “No Evidence of Disease!”    

We must do something to give cancer payback!  Like give cancer cancer and that is why I devote so much energy and passion to charity.  For the past two years I have been the Vice President of Cancer Free Generation and this year I am the Event Chair for CFG’s upcoming Celebrity Poker and Casino Night on September 8th at the Sofitel Hotel.  

Even though, I forgot about my 5 year Cancer-versary, there is rarely a day that goes by that I do not think about cancer.  In fact today, August 31st, is my least favorite day of the year because it marks the day that cancer stole my father’s life at the young age of 44 years old.  Today, 20 years later, my heart aches with sadness and my mind is full of rage at this gnarly, unforgiving disease that rips families apart.

Cancerland - I remember taking my first steps into Tower Hematology and Oncology just like a parent remembers the first steps their child takes.  Today, I still walk into the doors of Tower and I am so thankful for my amazing team of doctors and nurses coupled with the medications offered to me to keep my body strong and cancer free.

I also remember the “Frozen” period of chemo where my body became trapped in a perpetual winter as an icy spell was cast upon my scalp and fingers and toes during the race to save my hair and nails from chemo’s cold grip.  Today, my hair has grown back to its length of curls and I am thankful to not have neuropathy in my fingertips, but sometimes during hot flashes that raid through my menopausal body I wish I was Olaf the snowman. 

I remember the many surgeries and the intense pain following my double mastectomies and reconstruction. I remember 7 weeks post surgery and post 35 rounds of hyperbaric treatment for recovery when I threw Jay a “choo-2” year old birthday with 70 people at Travel Town.  It sure is ironic that I chose Jay’s two year old birthday theme to be a train theme, because just like a train I was a force to be reckoned with as I kept trudging ahead, unstoppable through the many pit stops in my cancer journey.

I kiss my daily Aromatase Inhibitor medication I take everyday as a way to show gratitude to medical science for keeping my cancer nonexistent.

When I was first got diagnosed someone told me, “a breast cancer diagnosis is the sorority that you never want to join, where the initiation is a bitch, but the sisterhood is amazing.”  The initiation and the treatment were certainly hell, both physically and emotionally.  I am so thankful not only for the support I received from my family and friends, but also for the unconditional instantaneous support I received from my “breast friends.”  The bond made between “breasties” is like no other.  I have made lifelong friends with these women and I have lost some friends to this horrible disease. 

The CFG event will be a night of poker, casino games, silent auction, burlesque dancing, hosted bar and food as we double down for a cure and honor a dear breast friend, Brittney Cade and her husband Mike Dirnt of Green Day.  If you are free on September 8th, come rock the night away with us or if you are unable to join please consider to Ante Up with a donation to Cancer Free Generation whose goal is to fund research in order to make the next generation truly cancer free.  That is my wish!

Event information: www.CFGPoker.org