I found out I had breast cancer at Christmas.
When I took that call, it felt like time stopped, but that feeling didn’t last: the next few months were a flurry of appointments, tests, research, and preparation for my double mastectomy surgery, which happened three months after that fateful diagnosis.
Through good fortune and a lot of hard work, I’ve come out of cancer treatment healthy, with a little more wisdom and a lot more humility. My first Breast Cancer Awareness Month as a survivor has come and gone. Don’t get me wrong—I am so grateful to have lived to see that time pass—but for me and for thousands of other women, breast cancer awareness doesn’t stop on October 31st. We’ll be aware of it every day, for the rest of our lives.
So when I learned that today is Pink Day, it seemed like the perfect time to continue the conversation—to speak up and speak out all year long to empower women affected by breast cancer. One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, so we owe it to ourselves, our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, and our girlfriends to take care of our health and to support the research that makes lifesaving medical breakthroughs possible.
Read my greatest advice for healing over at the K-DEER blog!
