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The Diagnosis
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There are moments in life when everything you thought you knew about yourself shatters with a single sentence. For me, that sentence came in the form of a phone call: “The biopsy confirmed what we suspected. You have cancer.” This blog is my space to share an unfolding story, one…
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Learning to Love the Thing I Most Wish Had Not Happened
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I would erase it in a heartbeat – and I wouldn’t undo who I’ve become. This is the paradox I live inside of. The thing I most wish had never happened shaped me in ways I never asked for, ways I wouldn’t have chosen, ways that sometimes feel like betrayal.…
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A Quarter Mile at a Time
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“I live my life one quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I’m free.” Vin Diesel, Fast & the Furious Call it recklessness if you’d like. I call it the…
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The Beauty in Regret
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We’re taught to treat regret like proof that we failed. Like a warning sign. Like evidence that we chose wrong. Like something to avoid at all costs. But somewhere along the way, I realized I’m far less afraid of regretting what I did than I am of regretting what I…
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Finding Comfort in the New
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Most people I know find comfort in the familiar. Their routines are sacred. Their favorite restaurants are non-negotiable. They want “the usual,” in life and in lattes. The known feels safe. The predictable feels calming. And I feel the opposite. Familiarity makes me a little restless. Sometimes a little anxious.…
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I Didn’t Mean to Change Careers
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My career pivot didn’t start with a plan, but with a life turned upside down. I didn’t mean to change careers. I just wanted to survive breast cancer, figure out how to live with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS), keep my kids alive (they also have LFS), and maybe stop waking up…
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What the Ocean Gave Me
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There are places to go when language runs out. When answers stop helping and silence feels more honest than explanation. After my diagnosis, after the surgeries, after the blur of medical decisions, I didn’t know what to do – so I went to the water. It’s ironic – that healing…
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Living with Chronic Uncertainty
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There are people who live by five-year plans. Color-coded calendars. Life goals with deadlines. I was never one of those people, so why is this so hard? I wasn’t the five-year-plan type.I didn’t have my life mapped out on vision boards or bullet journals. I made choices, took chances, and…
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Leaving Before You’ve Proven Yourself
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What happens when illness derails a new job — and how to let yourself go anyway. Five months into a new job, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.One month after that, I learned I had Li-Fraumeni Syndrome — a rare genetic condition that increases the risk of developing multiple types…
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What Reconstruction Really Means – Body, Mind, and Beyond
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When we talk about breast reconstruction, it’s easy to think of it as a purely physical process – a series of surgeries, procedures, and eventually, healing that result in a new version of what was once there. For me, it was a way to restore a sense of wholeness after…
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Part 6 – The Final Pour: Fat Grafting and Everything it Didn’t Fix
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This is 6 part series about my breast cancer and reconstruction surgeries—some real talk, a bit of education, and most importantly some humor. Here’s how it works: fat is removed through liposuction—think thighs, hips, flanks, and abdomen in my case—processed, and then injected back into the chest to restore a…