Trying to create a little corner of the internet to talk about my breast cancer journey and how it intersects with the joy of running and frustration of having an autoimmune condition

I’m a wife to Andy (who is a realtor in Florida) and mom to three kids (two boys- 9 and 7, and a girl, 4). I have the BRCA2 mutation and was diagnosed with breast cancer- stage 1, grade 3, hormone positive invasive ductal carcinoma at age 35. At 36, after two surgeries I am cancer free. I will be on hormone therapy for the next 5 years and am in early menopause due to needing my ovaries removed to prevent cancer recurrence. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease in 2020. That’s an autoimmune disease that attacks your thyroid. My oldest son was diagnosed in 2022 with CRMO (Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis), after two years of surgeries and antibiotics trying to figure out what he had/treating the wrong condition. CRMO is also an autoimmune condition, but his body attacks his bones, causing inflammation which can then cause lesions/abscesses to develop. It’s been a long three years, but through it all running has brought me so much joy. It’s given me a focus beyond myself and helped me feel like this body that seems to be betraying me is also capable of doing pretty incredible things. I’m a remarkably average runner as far as pace/skill goes. But I love it and have run two marathons with a third on deck for the fall of 2023. I love the races, the podcasts, the running community- all of it (except the last few miles of a marathon). Plus, there’s the perk of it helping my mentality while juggling all these dumb health things. Keeping my mental health in check is a huge component to chronic illness and cancer for me (though let’s be real… mental health is a huge component to everyone’s lives). Also, I like to write and am a “retired” RN (I don’t know if I’ll work as a nurse again, but I keep up my license in Florida just in case).