Support Victoria's Breast Cancer Journey

This is my sister, Victoria, and she is 26. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 triple positive breast cancer 4.5months ago after feeling a lump on her right breast. It came as a complete shock and even the genetic testing (BRCA1/2, and 70 other cancer genes tested) came back negative. So her diagnosis was completely random. The journey has been tough so far and has not been an easy road- she was hospitalized for a week due a blood infection (from an infected port), has been dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy (the biggest one being hair loss and feeling like she lost her whole identity), and is preparing for her double mastectomy once her chemo is over. It has really hard on me and my family seeing her go through all of this at such a young age. She has been saying strong and her resilience amazes all of us. To help her manage the stress of it all, she got a cat (pictured above)!

The thing that surprises me the most and has made me appreciate her even more, is that she still wanted to continue with grad school. She just started her second year at Northeastern, in the PharmD program. On top of all the treatment, she still wanted to be able to go to class and be able to participate like nothing ever happened. She didn't want her diagnosis to get in the way of what she enjoyed or have it define her- like how she also works in cancer research. It's been an area she enjoys immensely and been doing it for a few years now. It just shows how much time she has put into wanting to help people but also makes the diagnosis so much harder since cancer really doesn't show mercy.

It's been hard on her to keep up with the cost of care as well as tuition. Anything helps and we are truly grateful! :)