Sarah is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and professor, but her most cherished title is that of mother to her 6-year-old daughter Clare and her 3-year-old son Benjamin! She and her husband Phil just celebrated seven years of marriage.

Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 years old. While nursing her then five-month-old daughter Clare, she thought she had a clogged milk duct. Instead, she was diagnosed with Stage 3C Triple-negative breast cancer. She underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, 30 rounds of radiation, and clinical trials. Her miracle baby, Ben, was born one day before her two-year remission date. In December 2022 she underwent a DIEP Flap reconstruction with Dr. Cody. In September 2024, Dr. Cody performed a vascularized lymph node transfer to address the lymphedema she was experiencing after her mastectomy.

Her hope for her surgeries was to get a sense of herself back after losing so much and to improve her lymphedema, which caused swelling and heaviness in her arm and hand that made it hard to function, especially as a busy mom.

“Losing part of myself was hard for me, and the multiple surgeries were challenging, but I would do it again because having the DIEP Flap surgery gave me back a sense of myself that cancer took away. It is important to know your body, advocate for yourself, trust your instincts, and still manage to have some fun along the way!” Sarah shared.

She is also beyond grateful that her lymph node transfer surgery was a success and the heaviness and swelling she experienced have dramatically improved, reducing the need for compression garments. Dr. Cody used microsurgery techniques to remove lymph nodes from her neck, relocate them to her hand and reestablish those lymphatic connections that drain fluid.

Sarah hopes that sharing her story will help to give others hope and spread awareness of getting breast cancer at a young age. “I have also started a podcast called Second Base Podcast Girls with a friend from high school who was also diagnosed at a young age. We hope to share our stories to help others who may be faced with similar hardships.”