In July of 2016, my life was, in a word, awesome. My husband and I had married 3 months earlier after 10 years together, I just turned 38, and we were looking forward to starting a family together. I had a job I loved, was surrounded by people I love, and I was almost done with all those thank you cards. After an Indians game, I noticed that I had gotten some sun, and when I pulled my shirt away to see how much while looking in the mirror, I saw my left breast ripple. At that moment, my life changed forever, and was a lot less awesome for quite a while. Lots of tests later, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, Stage IIIA. I decided to be aggressive as possible, so I had 16 rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy with lymph node removal, and 30 radiation sessions. I also had my ovaries removed and take medication daily to keep the cancer away. Then, I participated in a clinical trial for a year, to determine the effectiveness of a new medication on preventing recurrence. I have now been NED for two years, and hope it continues that way for the rest of my life! I ride because I want to prove to myself and the world that I won the battle with cancer. I want us to win the war, too. I ride because I would do anything to prevent one more person from going through what I've gone through. I ride because so many of my family and friends have been afflicted with cancer, and enough is enough. I ride because right now my life, in a word, is awesome. And it would not be that way without the help of my great team at Taussig!
