Coming Full Circle: My Journey from Intern to Survivor

During my freshman year at TCU, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at The Rutledge Foundation. As a young student, I was eager to contribute to the foundation’s mission of supporting adolescents and young adults with cancer, while growing my marketing skills. Little did I know that almost a decade later, I would find myself on the other side of that mission, in need of the very support I once helped provide.

The News That Changed My Life Forever

I found my lump during a routine self-check. We thought it was surely just a cyst or hormonal change. My husband found my second lump, in my lymph node in my armpit. With my mom having breast cancer, I knew my chances were higher, but at 27 with no BRCA gene mutations? No way. The news came the day after my husband’s birthday and a week before mine. Aggressive cancer. Triple positive. So many tests, tears, and fears followed.

I had never seen my husband cry, and watching his tears broke my heart more than the news did. When you get a diagnosis like this, it’s hard not to feel like a burden to your friends and family. The last thing you want is for your loved ones to feel any type of pain, and now your health is a major cause of it.

Facing the Fight Head-On

Hearing the word “cancer” is a moment that changes everything. It’s a word that instantly floods your mind with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. But hearing it twice, for two different kinds of cancer within just a few months—and then adding a gene mutation diagnosis on top of that? That’s a twist so surreal, you almost have to laugh at the absurdity of it all (which I did, a lot—any cancer patient knows that dark humor quickly becomes their new best friend).

Despite the shock of the diagnosis, I never once asked, ‘Why me?’ because I know that cancer doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t choose its victims based on fairness or timing. It doesn’t care that I was 27, about to start trying for a baby, or that I had dreams and plans for my career and future. It makes no exceptions for how often you work out or how organic your diet is. Cancer doesn’t take any of that into account—it simply strikes, leaving you to navigate the path it forces you down.

Gratitude and Strength on the Other Side

25 years ago, my diagnosis would have been a death sentence. I’m so grateful to the scientists, researchers, doctors, and nurses who have dedicated their lives to inventing new medicines and helping people like me heal. To sum up my cancer treatment journey:

• 2 types of cancer (breast and thyroid)
• 144 appointments
• 26 rounds of radiation
• 20 chemo infusions
• 11+ expert doctors
• 6 surgeries
• 2 collapsed lungs
• 2 weeks in the hospital
• 1 genetic mutation (Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome)
• CT scans, echos, MRIs, mammograms, x-rays, ultrasounds, and bone scans
• Numerous ER visits
• Never-ending blood work
• So many amazing nurses
• Countless supportive family and friends

Battling cancer and enduring treatment was the most challenging experience of my life, and I hope it remains the hardest I’ll ever face. While I’ll never be grateful for cancer, I emerged from it stronger, more resilient, and with a deeper appreciation for life and the people who make it worth living.

Thank you for reading my story. I’m excited to continue sharing more in the future and to support the amazing work being done by The Rutledge Foundation. Their work is vital, and they are making a real difference in the lives of young people facing cancer.