At 40, in 2010 as a birthday present to myself, I scheduled my first mammogram. It went fine, no issues. The following year, I went in for my second mammogram. The nurse found a small lump which was followed up by an ultrasound. I received a notice from the hospital, stating result "benign", nothing to be worried about. The lump never went away, in fact, it seemed to get larger over the next few months. It never caused me any pain or issues and after all was benign. Life went on, in June of 2012 my boyfriend proposed. We set a date and on September 8, 2012 I married the love of my life in Lake Tahoe, CA. My husband received a call with a job offer the same week, the hitch, it was in Salt Lake City, UT...UGGH I had no desire to ever live there...EVER. While celebrating our wedding I could not help but feel heartbroken as this amazing opportunity meant leaving our home, our friends and my family. I had been unemployed for a year an this job would ease that burden. So we returned to Boise to start the process of moving. We both made appointments with our Doctors to get our records and take them with us. My OBGYN was concerned with the "lump" and scheduled another ultrasound and an order to have "cyst" removed. As I completed the ultrasound they asked if I would like to have my husband to come back to be with me? I was puzzled, not sure what that meant when the tech advised they would be performing a biopsy and not aspiration. We didn't really understand what was going on. On Oct 15, 2012, my husbands first day at his new job, I received a call with the diagnosis of Breast Cancer. I believe that if it was not for my husband and his new job, I would not be alive today to tell my story. As of today I am 2 years out and cancer free, I owe my life to my husband, he truly is my hero.

Sonya Rabe
Meridian, ID