“I have 4 sisters. In June of 2010, my older sister was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. I went down to help her and be with her, but I had had my annual physical already scheduled for myself. So I went down and spent a day with her, and said I would come back after my appointment. I had my physical and my physician said what’s new? I told her about my experience with my sister and she immediately said we are not going to do a mammogram, you’re going to do an MRI today. She sent me to a surgeon, and I was told I had breast cancer. They went back and did a mammogram and they didn’t find it, so thankfully we did the MRI. Because my physician was so aggressive, I’m still alive today. We immediately set the date for surgery to get it out. I was at stage 2. Because of my age they wanted to check the other side. It had spread into my major lymph node on my right hand side. I had a double mastectomy. After the surgery, the biopsy came back and showed that there were cancer cells on that one too but it was very early, so I was very fortunate. I went on chemo meds, and was just released from them this May. Up until 6 years ago, I was very active. In all honesty, I probably wouldn’t be here had I not been so in tuned to nutrition and my body. After the surgery, It was easier to get back into a routine because of how active I was before the surgery. Exercising does for me what I would think music does to a musician. It just fills me. It makes me feel so much better. I just want to continue to get better. I can hike farther now than I was able to last year and I want to continue that. When I turn 70 in 5 years I want to be better than I was at 50. I know what it takes. It takes time, patience and consistency. I believe I am still here because I’ve always made my health a priority.”