What do you do when a good friend tells you she's been diagnosed with breast cancer? You rally the troops and let her know she's not in this fight alone, right?

My dear friend Katie will be undergoing surgery to remove a small cancerous mass in her breast—something she hoped would never happen even though she carries the BRCA gene and her mother passed away from stage 4 breast cancer just 6 years ago.

Katie is a single mom with an adorable 2.5-year-old son, Q. As if life isn't challenging enough on a day-to-day basis (she's self-employed and Q has a few special needs), now this. Well, we want to let her know she doesn't have to go through this all by herself, so how can we help out?

Because Katie is self-employed, she's going to miss at least 8 weeks of work while she recovers. That means she'll need funds to pay for rent and utilities, daycare, food, insurance, and other life essentials. I'm asking for your help to cover those costs so that Katie can just concentrate on getting well.

The thing is, Katie is not the kind of woman who would ask for help—she's usually the first one to help out someone else who needs it. But as many of us know, when challenges arrive, you can't afford to be an island—this is when you need your friends the most.

As the time gets closer, I'll be giving updates on her progress and her needs as they arise. My goal is to make this as simple as possible for her and to just surround her with love and support along this journey.