Support TOUCH. & Ricki, survivor turned advocate, and my mom

This is my mom, Ricki (and my daughter Leia on her shoulders).

In 2011, she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. I'll never forget when the doctors told her, with my sister and me in the room, that she needed to get her affairs in order and gave her two years to live. The doctor didn't know my mom, though. They didn't know her fight, her resilience, or her God.

After multiple rounds and modes of treatment, that same doctor told us she was cancer-free.

With a clean bill of health, my mom's fight continued. To help others! She joined the board of the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation; she shared her story and counseled other women with their diagnoses; she started to do research and began to see a trend regarding Black women and often more aggressive and harder-to-treat triple-negative breast cancers.

She went on to found TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance. The mission is to support Black people with breast cancer, and also to serve as a catalyst for changing the conversation—and ultimately the care!—for Black women and breast cancer.

As her daughter, I am grateful for her resilience and health.

As a Black woman, I am humbled by her advocacy.

And as a mother to three girls, I am inspired and hopeful.

I'm launching this fundraiser because I believe in her (and my sister who works with her at TOUCH too) and because I know how important this work is. It's life-changing and life-saving. And it must continue on.

I'm kicking this off with a $200 contribution on Giving Tuesday.

And I'm looking to you to support TOUCH BBCA too.