We are always grateful when our supporters share their “living with breast cancer stories”. We believe it helps everyone else feel a little bit less alone in their breast cancer journey. Meet Terri Hersh who is bravely supporting her daughter’s journey with breast cancer.
I purchased two “Ballerina Bob” t-shirts. One for myself and one for my daughter Jaime who was diagnosed [with breast cancer] two years ago at the young age of 34. She was 3B when her breast cancer was found and the mother of a 5 year old son and a 10 month old daughter. She had to immediately stop nursing her daughter and start chemo. After chemo came a double mastectomy, followed by radiation. Then reconstruction. This turned out to be fed by hormones so a complete hysterectomy was included in her treatment… this means early menopause and the end of any thoughts of expanding their young family. There’s still future surgeries to even out some areas, at least another 8 years of meds and scans as follow-up and the occasional flare-ups of lymphedema.
As with everything else she does, she jumped right in with both feet and assembled a binder of options on treatments, surgeries, and doctors that she interviewed in order to make the best possible decision for herself. Through out all of this Jaime has maintained a positive attitude. She continued to run her business and take care of her family. She rocked her bald head with a smile. She said recently that if she had to get cancer so that just one person who wouldn’t be able to handle it did not get it, it was worth it.
Terri Hersh and Jaime Bunnell
I don’t know if you want to include any of this, but as a mom, I wanted to shout out my pride in my daughter. She’s always been a supporter of breast cancer research – years before it became her battle. She’s the one who first introduced me to “Ballerina Bob”. She’s not a survivor, but a thriver and I couldn’t love her more.
– Terri Hersh, Greensboro NC
Terri, thanks for supporting our mission to bring the breast cancer community support by funding services that insurance doesn’t cover.
Marcela Shine is Founder of Avanzar Ventures, Business Manager of The Tutu Project and an advisor to the Carey Foundation. Her company, Avanzar Ventures, has been supporting the project by providing operational, social media and technical implementation strategy since the inception of the project.