HEATHER'S STORY - Everyone always said I was just like my mother–same dark hair, same stubborn streak...somehow I missed out on the part that made her 5'9", but not much else was different. There was one thing that I hoped would be different: she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 31 when I was just 2 years old.

Well, I was different. I wasn't diagnosed at 31. No, I was diagnosed at 28. My husband, Matt, and I had just celebrated our sixth anniversary, and our son was one year old at the time. I chose to have a double mastectomy without reconstruction. I went through 8 rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and 33 radiation treatments, as well as four other surgeries. Throughout it all, my husband was by my side. My family and friends made life bearable during my surgeries and treatments.

After my treatment was complete, I became very involved in a number of organizations and events for breast cancer. I participate in local and regional Race for the Cure events every year. I am an advocate reviewer on national review panels for Komen and the DoD Breast Cancer Research Programs. I am involved in Young Survival Coalition, an organization founded specifically to address the needs of women diagnosed under the age of 40.

Although I know that I am very much like my mother, including inheriting the BRCA1 gene which caused our cancer, I hope that I will get to see my son graduate from college and get married someday. This is something that she never got to see me do because she lost her battle to breast cancer twelve years ago at the age of 51.