My mom was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in 2008.. She did a self test and found a small lump in her milk duct. She had a mastectomy the day after I graduated high school and did 4 rounds of chemo. In 2009 she was declared cancer free. Almost 5 years clear, in January 2013 she found another lump on the same side and found out she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. It spread to her lungs, liver, and bones. I was devastated because I thought we were done with this but here it was trying to take us down again. She went through 6 rounds of chemo and was put in herceptin and tamoxifen. Just when we thought we were in the clear she started to get headaches and couldn't even stand up or walk without help. My worst fear was about to come true when we took her to the ER and they said she had a brain tumor. The week before thanksgiving she had 5 rounds of radiation and the worst part was hearing her throw up at night. In August 2015, she caught pneumonia and went into the hospital for complications of that and the cancer spreading to her heart in September. On October 1, 2015 my mom lost her battle with breast cancer. She fought so hard for 7 years and I saw her go through everything. Please find a cure! I don't want to see someone go through what I went through.

Lauren Butler
Hesperia, CA