Sarah
Sarah is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and professor, but her most cherished title is that of mother to her five-year-old daughter Clare and her two-year-old son Benjamin! She and her husband Phil just celebrated six 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 twelve 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. She also underwent a vascularized lymph node transfer in September 2024.
Her hope for her surgeries was to get a sense of herself back after losing so much and to improve her lymphedema.
“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 a sense of myself back 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.
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.”