On 3/10/25 at 4:00 pm, I was at work and I noticed that I had multiple missed calls from Julie Bako. I called her back right away, and as soon as she answered the phone, I knew something was wrong. She was extremely upset- in between sobs and hyperventilating she told me that she had just received a call from her doctor's office—she is positive for papillary carcinoma favor encapsulated—a rare form of breast cancer. Julie has breast cancer. It was, and is, incredibly shocking, and this diagnosis really feels like it came out of the blue and sideswiped us.

We had a similar scare last September. Julie had found a lump in her breast, which was determined to be a cyst. It was aspirated and tested negative for any trace of cancer cells. A few months later, Julie felt the lump was back, so she called her doctor, and here we are!

This is a truly difficult time as I am literally in the middle of changing employment and do not start until April. In a way, it's a blessing in disguise. This will allow me to be closer to home, and I can help more and attend appointments with her. Julie needs to focus solely on healing, recovering, and use every ounce of energy to kick cancer’s ass!