My name is Angie and I was diagnosed with breast cancer this past April at the age of 36. This was two months before my 37th birthday and just days before my nine-year wedding anniversary with my wonderful husband. We were totally shocked and I never thought this could happen to me.

After years of sitting in a cubicle and married to an active gym-loving husband, I found a personal love for fitness. To keep me accountable, I started a blog teaching my readers and myself to work out and live a healthier lifestyle. I attended a fitness camp in 2009 and trained with Ms. Olympia Champion Jen Hendershott. I finally decided to stop watching my friends grow into fitness competitors and try it for myself. I then created another blog, TuffPhit.com, for more advanced fitness. I had made up my mind to compete in a bikini competition October of this year.

For years I wanted breast augmentation and after losing weight, I wanted it even more. I always worried what others would think. Finally, one day I didn’t care anymore, and decided set up an appointment with Plastic Surgery Associates in Grand Rapids.

After hearing my grandmother had breast cancer, they recommended I do a mammogram before surgery. I never thought my life would flip upside down and my world would feel like it stopped all with a few words. Well its cancer. I had five tumors on my left side - all 100% estrogen fed. One tumor was on its way to stage two. I was immediately put into menopause, took time off work, and scheduled my surgery.

On May 23, I had my ovaries removed, a bi-lateral mastectomy, and started reconstruction. This was done all in one six-hour surgery with three surgeons. Part of the surgery was to perform a dissection of the sentinel lymph node on my left side, which came back testing positive for cancer. With that information the surgeons removed the surrounding nodes for examination. Those nodes came back cancer free as it had not traveled any farther—We caught it just in time!

Some of you may or may not agree with my decision to have breast augmentation, but I believe it was a prompting of God. Otherwise I would not have gone in for testing until after my 40s. By then I don’t know if I would be here to tell you my story.

I am blessed not to have to endure radiation or chemotherapy. I am so thankful for a husband who has been my solid rock, my family who holds my hand, my friends who cry with me, and my father God who guided me through every decision we made. I strongly believe in healthy organic living. I am currently on several vitamins and a special diet after visiting the Born Clinic. Through blood work and hair samples they figured out what was wrong with my system and taught me how to fix it.

Cancer did not care if I was working out and it did not care about my age. We all must take the steps necessary to be proactive. The sooner you find it, the easier it is to save your life. My final reconstructive surgery will be 11 days before I walk my first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I registered for this walk just a few weeks after my diagnosis and formed a team. I knew without a doubt this would be the perfect way to end my summer and my battle with breast cancer.