Last year, at 8 months pregnant with my daughter, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What followed was a whirlwind of chemotherapy during pregnancy, welcoming Madison into the world on a carefully planned timeline between chemo treatments and blood count recovery, and a long induction and vacuum assisted labor that made an already emotional time even more challenging. In my first 10 days postpartum, I underwent numerous staging scans, appointments, an ER trip, port surgery, and began two weeks of IVF followed by egg retrieval surgery to preserve my fertility before continuing treatment.

Since then, I've finished IV chemotherapy, had complications and multiple hospital admissions that were extremely difficult because they took me away from Madison. I remember watching her on the baby monitor from my hospital bed, crying and asking the doctors when I could go home to her. Fast forward to a mastectomy, radiation, ongoing immunotherapy infusions, chemo pills, ovarian suppression, endocrine therapy, and participating in a vaccine clinical trial focused on preventing recurrence.

Through all of it, I've also been learning how to be a first time mom. I'm walking to celebrate how far I've come, support other women going through this, and for my Madison Anne, who has also been a fighter and continues to be my "shining light"!