Michelle’s story
In December 2022, Michelle was living a busy life in Okinawa, Japan, where her husband Jose was stationed with the U.S. military and their two daughters attended school. A marketing manager who exercised regularly and was in good overall health, Michelle was not prepared for what was to come. One night, she awoke with excruciating pain in her left hip that lingered for days. An emergency room visit led to X-rays revealing bone lesions, and soon, a flood of referrals and tests began. It wasn’t until mid-January, after a doctor directed her and her family to fly to a military medical center in Hawaii, that the gravity of her situation became clear. There, a series of scans and biopsies revealed the unexpected: Michelle had stage IV metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her bones.
The diagnosis upended Michelle’s world. While she and her family navigated treatment plans, military leave, and moving their lives to Texas for better care and family support, grief compounded as her father passed away from cancer during this time. In Houston, Michelle began aggressive treatment, coming to terms with lifelong therapies and a new reality that was difficult to process. She wondered if things would have been different if she’d qualified for a mammogram when she was screened for cancer in 2020, but because she was under the recommended age of 40, she didn’t qualify for one.
Through it all, she found strength in her family and began to share her story, urging others to stay attuned to their bodies and advocate for early screening regardless of age.
“It’s really important to listen to your body. Especially for women, it’s easy to say, ‘It’s fine, it’s because of this or that.’ We forget about ourselves because we’re natural caretakers. We think of others. If you have something as little as a paper cut and you want to see somebody about it, go see somebody.”
Michelle’s story became not just about her own health, but a call for heightened awareness of and compassion for other women facing an MBC diagnosis.
Dayna’s story
Dayna’s story is one of resilience, hope, and choosing joy. First diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, Dayna underwent two years of treatment and welcomed a brief remission before being diagnosed again in 2016 with ovarian cancer. In 2021, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and it was a lot to process. Despite a long family history of breast cancer, Dayna wasn’t aware she had inherited a BRCA gene mutation until her own diagnosis. She reflects on how things might have been different had she known her BRCA status earlier, but she’s made peace with it. She’s found that focusing on what she can do now—for herself, for others, and for her children—is helpful.
Living in Dallas, Dayna juggles part-time work, her family-run brownie business, and her role as a devoted mother of three. She is undergoing treatment for MBC and continues to navigate side effects with courage, drawing from more than a decade of lived experience with cancer. Through all of it, Dayna stays anchored by her gratitude and finding joy in everyday moments and adventures. She loves baking and traveling the world with her loved ones to places like Egypt and Peru. She’s found that “being open about your struggle allows love and support to come from unexpected places.” She is a firm believer in being her own advocate, reminding others that “you have to stay in the driver’s seat with your team.” Dayna shares her knowledge with others, from “chemo brain” tips to neuropathy prevention. With a wide circle of family and friends and a strong support group, she chooses to live with purpose guided by her perspective that “everyone is born and everyone dies—but not everyone lives.”
