A few weeks ago, Sarah felt a lump on her breast. While she was a little worried, she had her last mammogram about 7 months before that, which was completely normal. She did her due diligence and went to get it checked out anyways. When she was supposed to get her results back, they were only able to tell her that it was cancer but they had to send it off for more testing. Sarah was trying to stay positive and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, she got the news that it was a Metaplastic Cancer, which is extremely rare that makes up for only 1% of breast cancers. This cancer is very AGGRESSIVE and FAST growing. It took 5 pathologist at UCSF to figure it out and confirm. This is a triple negative, which means no hormones are involved and it is much harder to treat.

In less than 7 months from when she had her last mammogram, she is already at stage 2, grade 3. The good news is that she caught it when she did. They quickly moved to get her into surgery for a mastectomy. We are waiting on the new pathology, but her surgeons feel confident they were able to remove it entirely. She has been in a lot of pain and working hard to get it under control. Sarah has been a trooper and maintains her optimism.

For all those who know her, you all know how far she has come in life. She has worked hard to get through school and make her career happen. She is a single mom that has majority custody of her daughter and is her primary provider. Sarah is a very proud person and never has asked for help, although she has every right to. As friends of hers, we are trying to help her navigate this portion so she doesn’t have to worry. She has used all her PTO and will need to start 6 months of Chemotherapy in just a few weeks. Sarah has been hoping to go back to work once it starts, but her doctor has been telling her to plan on staying home during the duration of her treatment. Sarah is a single mom who lives alone with her daughter. She has been worrying about how she will pay for rent, groceries, and all the misc. things of life. Nobody going through this should have to worry about these basic needs during a time like this. While losing your hair might sound insignificant to some, our hair can be part of our identity. Sarah’s hair is gorgeous and we are also trying to raise enough money to also pay for cold capping, which is somewhat of a newer technique which can save her hair. This is not covered by insurance. If we are able to raise enough money for her not to worry about rent, this will be our next step. This is an extremely difficult time and any help would be appreciated.

Sarah wasn’t planning on sharing her story but changed her mind. She is hoping for as many prayers and good thoughts as possible. She also wants to raise awareness and make sure that we are all checking ourselves regularly, as this cancer can come at ALL ages, with no family history or genetic mutations.