April didn’t think it could happen to her.

She was just 38—no family history. No symptoms — until one night, she felt something strange near her breast. “I was just lying down watching a movie when I happened to touch my chest and felt something like a grape under my skin,” April shared. “I felt the other side. Nothing. I knew something was wrong.”

Unsure of what she was feeling, April Googled how to do a breast self-exam. She found guides for doing it both lying down and standing. She noticed rippling and a change in her nipples — something she’d previously brushed off. “I’d only had one clinical breast exam in my whole life,” she admitted.

She had no family history of breast cancer. But thankfully, her OB/GYN took her concerns seriously and ordered a mammogram — one that would lead to her stage 3 triple-negative diagnosis.

“My doctor almost didn’t order it. He said I was too young. When I came back from the scan, his face looked like he’d seen a ghost.”

What came next was a whirlwind — chemo, surgery, radiation. April lost her hair and strength, and at one point, she lost 20 pounds in a week. But she never lost her fight.

“Shaving my head was the moment it felt real. I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘Okay. This is happening.”

Through it all, she kept working full time. “I gave myself grace, but I didn’t want to let cancer take everything.”

It wasn’t just her body that changed — it was her relationships too. Cancer helped her reconnect with her sons. The tough love, the teenage years, and the hurt began to shift when they saw her fighting for her life.

“It was hard. But in some ways, cancer saved my family.”

Today, April is in remission and finds joy in being a young grandma. Her energy is still up and down. Some days, the pain lingers. But she’s showing up, speaking out, and embracing the messy, beautiful version of life after cancer.

“You don’t have to have a family history. You just have to have a body. That’s it. Cancer doesn’t care — so check yourself.”

April is why we exist.

Your support helps us walk beside survivors like her before, during, and after treatment. bcfcf.org