Guest Profile

In July of 2015, I received those soul crushing words 'You've got Breast Cancer' from my Dr. I went into supermom mode and scheduled my 1st surgery in August 2015, and what I though would be my only, when My girls were 11,13 & 15. Well each handled my diagnosis and breast cancer journey differently. My oldest, Samantha took on the role of making sure everything at home was taken care of; lunches, carpool, sporting events, basically a mini me. My middle daughter, Lauren was much quieter and slept at the foot of my bed many nights & was empowered when she wrote an essay for her 8th grade english class. My youngest, Emilie was in pure denial, hiding from anything that showed my sickness and retreating into her art. She only accepted my diagnosis once she sat down with her 11 year old peers and their moms for a lunch date. 

 

Fast forward a few months and my girls blew me away when discussing Lauren's paper at the dinner table. She said she had to read her paper about the car ride when I got my diagnosis in front of her whole class and she could not believe how many peers it touched. That night, Strides for Survivors was created. The original intention was that in February 2017, a small gathering of our community would come out to support their efforts to give back to TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation, the play they say, "Gave them their mom back."

 

Again fast forward, this time 7 years to Jan 2023, and Strides for Survivors has raised $75,000 for TurningPoint and is now a 501(3)c helping so many others get the help they need after their diagnosis and treatments.

 

Even more exciting is the publication of Emilie's 1st book, 'My mommy has cancer, but she's still my Mommy.' that came out this October. She took her experiences and the way she processed my diagnosis as an 11 year old and put it into a beautiful book for all ages, which is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble