Katie had big milestones to enjoy in 2024. She planned to celebrate both her 40th birthday and wedding anniversary on a trip to Italy, but everyday life got in the way. “We had construction going on at our house, so we decided to postpone the trip until we had less worries at home,” Katie said. “So, I decided to schedule my first mammogram instead.” What she thought would be routine screening turned out to be a life-changing journey.
The Diagnosis
Katie didn’t expect anything unusual to show up on her first mammogram. Her mom was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer at 65 and had gone through treatment “with flying colors,” so Katie thought her own screening would just be part of the turning 40 routine. But shortly after her first mammogram, doctors called her back for a second one. “I saw the spot they were concerned about on the screen,” Katie recalled. “It looked like an octopus and had tentacles. I looked at it and thought, ‘I have breast cancer.’”
A biopsy confirmed what Katie suspected. She was diagnosed with stage 1 triple-negative multifocal invasive ductal carcinoma, along with areas of ductal carcinoma in situ. She received the official call while buckling her daughter into the car after gymnastics practice.
Before she received her treatment plan, Katie got more unsettling news. Doctors needed to determine if her cancer had spread, so she had four more biopsies and a breast MRI.
“They said to me, ‘you lit up in the MRI machine,’” Katie recalled. “They didn’t know if I was stage 1 or stage 3. I started thinking, ‘my little girl isn’t going to remember me,’ and ‘I’m not going to see my kids graduate from high school.’”
Katie said she was inconsolable after that phone call.
Thankfully, she found out a short time later the additional spots were benign, and her lymph nodes were clear. Her cancer hadn’t spread, and she was stage 1 breast cancer.
Over the course of four months, Katie underwent a lumpectomy and 19 rounds of radiation.
Talking to Her Kids
At the time of her breast cancer diagnosis, Katie’s son, Jack, was 8 and her daughter, Cora, was 3. She chose to make them a part of her journey from the start. “I didn’t want it to be something we talked about behind closed doors,” Katie said.
To help her kids understand what she was going through, Katie showed them a picture of herself lying under the radiation machine. She said Jack was even able to explain it better than she expected: “He said the cells in my body are the soldiers fighting the cancer. Surgery got most of it, but chemo (which he knows I didn’t need) is like tanks that help and radiation is the lasers to come and finish the job.”
On her last day of radiation, Katie’s husband and children were by her side as she rung the bell that signified the end of her treatment, yet she said she didn’t feel “done.”
Working on Mental Health
While she describes her treatment timeline as “short,” the impact to her mental health has been ongoing. “There are days when I don’t think about breast cancer,” she said. “Then there are days when I’m in the shower, and I see the scars or feel the sharp nerve pain that comes seemingly out of nowhere.”
Katie said during her treatment people often told her how strong and brave she was, but for her it was simply following the procedures doctors recommended. “When my treatment was done it was like, ‘now what do I do?’” she recalled.
Katie sees her doctors every three months and is working with her therapist on learning to trust her body again and adjusting to her new normal. “I want to live my life to the fullest,” she said. “Now I’m working on things that help me do that.”
For more information about coping with breast cancer, supporting children and talking to others about a diagnosis, visit Komen’s educational resources page.
Statements and opinions expressed are that of the individual and do not express the views or opinions of Susan G. Komen. This information is being provided for educational purposes only and is not to be construed as medical advice. Persons with breast cancer should consult their health care provider with specific questions or concerns about their treatment.
