I am in my early 40's and live alone. I am single and have one child out of state in our wonderful military. My story starts like this:...I felt a lump in my right breast in July of 2013. I had a mammogram and received a phone call several days later from a surgeon. She did an ultrasound of my breast and a biopsy the same day, July 25th 2013. She took six pieces of this "mass" and sent it to pathology. She said, "do you want to know the raw deal or not?" I said "give it to me, I'm ready and I'm a soldier". She said, "ok, I give you a 50/50 chance that is is cancer. I waited for five days and she called me at home and gave me the news that I had Invasive Ductal Carcenoma and Estrogen and Progesterone both positive. The numbers they use to gather a formula stated I was a number 3=3=3=9 and it was very aggresive. I also had my dna sampled and I do not carry the "gene". I underwent two lumpectomies within this two week period and also received the news that it had spread to my lymph nodes. One was positive for cancer. This gave me stage 2. I underwent 3 months of chemotherapy and lost my hair two weeks before Christmas. The chemotherapy lasted until the end of February 2014. I then started 30 days of radiation, everyday, except for weekends. I started all of this treatment November 2013 and it ended April 2014. I had physically very minimal side effects. I was afraid of the concept of weight loss, because I stay at around 140 lbs and I'm 5 foot 7. My scans for mammogram won't be completed until August. So, basically I won't know if my treatment worked until then. I have no choice but to keep my mindset that I am cancer free and a fighter. I will win. I am extremely optimistic. I am a survivor. I have hope. I have faith in God. With love, Judith

Judith Gillespie
Louisville, KY