I discovered my lump myself  June 13, 2016 while sitting on the couch with my husband, recapping our day as our two young children played in our Bronx apartment.

A brush of my finger across my chest; I felt “something.” I asked my husband to see if he felt it, too. I remember the look in his eyes when he told me to call the doctor ASAP.

I called the next day and scheduled my appointment to see my doctor two days later. A “simple” check-in resulted in a mammogram, followed by a sonogram, and then a new doctor who walked into the room and told me I needed a biopsy all on the same day!

My simple visit resulted in me returning home in bandages from the needle biopsy.  Four days later, I received a phone call.

“You have cancer.”

I was 37 years young.

I was diagnosed with stage one, HER2+, grade three breast cancer.

And so the journey began…

July 29, 2016, I had a bilateral mastectomy. Followed by: four months of chemotherapy treatment equivalent to the strength as if it had metastasized, 10 months of Herceptin infusion, one blood clot in the lung, an infected chemical port, partial hysterectomy, and three implant reconstruction surgeries.

The final (God willing) was July 29, 2019 after having a scare of ruling out non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. To date, I am healing great and I am not on any medication.

I was very honest of my treatment and I was not shy to ask for prayers and support.

Through it all, I had amazing support from my prince of a husband who cared for me physically and emotionally as well countless friends and family members. Most of all my two little babies, Stephen now seven and Julia now 10 were my strength in it all; literally, my reasons for fighting.

I knew one day God would call me, but not today, I asked. I promised if He allowed me to be their mother here on earth, I would teach them that He is their father in heaven.

I am thankful everyday.