Meet Isabel
“I remember being in just such a state of shock and super anxious when I found out that I had cancer.”
Isabel was pregnant when she found a lump in her left breast in March 2026, at 30
She assumed it was a cyst on a milk duct, but she mentioned it at her next appointment. Her OB/GYN referred her for a diagnostic mammogram and breast ultrasound.
A biopsy followed, and at 30 weeks pregnant, Isabel was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. “It felt really unfair because my body was in the middle of doing this amazing process of building life from literally nothing,” she said. The safety of her unborn child remained at the forefront of her treatment decisions, and after undergoing two of 16 rounds of chemotherapy, she delivered her son at 35 weeks gestation.
Once she completes chemotherapy, Isabel will undergo a double mastectomy followed by reconstruction and a year of immunotherapy. She hopes her story will help raise awareness that breast cancer can strike at any time – even during pregnancy and even if you’re young and healthy – as researchers work to understand why women face heightened risk during their childbearing years.
I couldn't believe that while I was growing a baby, my body was also betraying me by growing a tumor in my breast.
