Breast Cancer

What I Wish MyChart Notifications Told Me

I wish someone told me that doing my best each day is enough. I don’t have to be some superhero and maintain the capacity I had before cancer crept into my life.

I Wish Someone Told Me to Try to Go with the Flow

When I was diagnosed the first time around, back in 2017, I had a pretty idealistic view of how I would navigate chemotherapy. I was convinced I would successfully use the cold cap and keep all of my hair.

Young Breast Cancer Your Story and Mine: A Compact Guide

Due to the problem of omission of public breast health education, I believed that “it couldn’t be cancer.” I didn’t know my risk factors, and I believed I was too young. This belief fueled my own delay in seeking care for some months, which could have been detrimental to my survival due to the extra aggressive nature of my tumor being Triple Negative breast cancer.

Ode to H.E.R. (Holding Every Reality)

It feels like it took a lifetime to find you… this body of mine. All her shapes, curves, and ombre moods of brown.

I was sort of lost without understanding how powerful you are, so I’ve fought hard for you to stay.

My Living Legacy: Advocacy Born from Survival

Cancer doesn’t just leave—it plants itself in your mind, body, and spirit. Even after ringing the bell, it clings to every aspect of who I am. The scars I carry are not just physical from my double mastectomy, hysterectomy, and DIEP flap reconstruction—they’re etched into my soul.

Expected Losses, Unexpected Gains

I don’t like surprises. As a child, I was told that when I received a gift I didn’t like, I had to swallow my disappointment and pretend that I liked the gift. I found this immensely difficult to do, and would often say “thank you, I love it,” with a grimace and tears threatening to spill over the edges of my eyelids.

When Cancer Conjured the Ghosts and Revived New Spirits

Even before I was diagnosed with cancer, my still-young body was already plagued by exhaustion, and I was slowed down in my drive and rhythm. It seems as if my life was pointing a finger at me and saying, “Watch out, it can’t go on like this!”

Phantoms of Daily Life

I remember when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer: I remember falling to the floor and violently sobbing. After adjusting to the diagnosis, I had assumed that I would just have a double mastectomy and move on with my life.

My Scars Tell a Story

Mommy has an ouchy boo boo.
Kalli has nipples. Mommy has no nipples.
Mommom (aka grandma) has boobs. Mommy has no boobs.
Can I touch it?

Long Progression

“I’d really just like to feel like me.”

That was my go-to answer. Just wanting to feel like me.

When my cancer was first diagnosed, I felt like my body betrayed me. The only thing I knew had started working against me and now I was left with a fierce mistrust that followed throughout my treatments, surgeries, recoveries, and everything after.