My name is Johanna Johnson, I’m 39 years old and I’m a triple negative breast cancer warrior. I’ve been married to my husband for 16 years and have a beautiful 12 year old daughter. I love to run, read, spend time outside at the beach, the river, or out on the boat in the gulf when I’m not juggling my daughter’s sports and activities.

I accidentally self-discovered my cancer in February of this year. I went to take a shower after my run and my hand just happened to rub up against the right spot when I took my sports bra off. I work in healthcare so I didn’t panic thinking it was possibly a swollen muscle or cyst so my plan was to monitor it for a week or so but within a few days the lesion almost doubled in size and I knew it was a bigger issue and possibly cancerous at the rate it was growing. I had a mammogram and ultrasound later that week, a biopsy the following Tuesday and received the results and diagnosis that Thursday: triple negative breast cancer. I was honestly not in shock when my biopsy results came back positive, but I was terrified that I had potentially passed a gene down to my daughter that could increase her risk and terrified that with such an aggressive cancer I was going to leave my little girl without a mommy. I quickly met with both the surgical and medical oncologist and we went into fight mode. I obviously did not want this diagnosis, but there was not a chance I was going down without a fight and never was anyone ever going to be able to say “she gave up”. I had genetic testing done, a MRI and my port placed the following week and chemotherapy the following week. I went through 24 total weeks of chemo: 12 weeks of weekly Taxol/Carboplatin infusions followed by 4 Adriamycin and Cytoxan every 3 weeks. I also did immunotherapy with Keytruda every 3 weeks during chemo and will continue that for several more months. I had a bilateral mastectomy with sentinel node biopsy and expander placement on September 17 and achieved pCR, meaning chemo worked and I am officially cancer free!! I am still gearing up to begin 30 daily radiation treatments once I am cleared from my surgery. And reconstruction July as I need to be 6 months out from radiation to have that procedure done.  

I have been extremely blessed through my cancer journey. There were some rough and dark days but overall I was able to keep running, albeit much slower and shorter distances, and I think that helped keep me going. I also have a family and a tribe of friends that support me like you wouldn’t believe through all this. The biggest challenge for me was listening to my body and resting when I really wanted to push through, which meant sometimes missing my daughter’s sporting events or going home early so I could take a nap. 

I knew that the BCFCF existed just from working in my role in healthcare, but I didn’t know just how involved they were in the local community. Incidentally, after a run with the run club I belong to, Ashley with BCFCF was there promoting one of the organization’s fundraisers, a 5k race. We got to chatting and I explained that it was so ironic that she chose that week to come because I was a breast cancer patient and it was one of my last group runs before my surgery. She explained more about what the BCFCF does and the type of support that they are able give to patients and their families right in our own community. Since that day Ashely has checked in on me basically a weekly basis to see how I’m doing, if I need anything, how she can help, all while facing her own challenges. BCFCF will forever be an organization I will support and promote going forward.

I hope others who are going through this journey know that they are not alone and while there are some dark and challenging days, there are some amazing and beautiful things that can come out of this journey too. Life is such a beautiful thing and you are SO much stronger than you could ever imagine. That at the beginning of this journey the light at the end of the tunnel may seem so tiny and dull, but it really does get brighter, you just have to keep pushing forward. I am telling my story and will keep telling my story, not for the glory, but to give others hope and strength when they need it the most.