On April 2018, I was diagnosed with HER2+ breast cancer, after having a mammogram because of a nipple discharge.  HER2+ (positive) breast cancer is when breast cancer cells have excessive amounts of a protein receptor called HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2).

I was 35, and on an assignment for work when I developed a rosy color in my right breast. I was worried and decided to have it checked out at my regular GYN appointment when I got home a few months later.

My story begins in the fall of 2012, when I was 37 years old.  I was in my 15th year as a high school band director, had a 3 year old daughter, and was trying to get pregnant with our second child.  I began having severe pain in my left breast and, after a month or so of waiting to see if it cleared up with my menstrual cycle, I discovered a hard knot.