For more than a decade, Julie M. walked the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® to honor the women in her family who had faced breast cancer. Then in 2023, she received a diagnosis of her own.
Walking for Her Mom
Julie first participated in the San Diego 3-Day in 2010, following her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2007.
“I would have walked sooner, but when my mom had cancer, I lived in Italy with my husband on his military tour,” Julie said. “When I started, my mom walked with me a few times, and I have done it ever since.”
Over the years, the 3-Day has become a major part of Julie’s life. She has participated in 22 events, and for the past seven years she has served as captain of Team Viva Las Boobies.
“The 3-Day has been a life-changing experience for me because of the camaraderie, the sisterhood. It’s phenomenal,” Julie said. “The people I walk with … we just walked this morning. We walk year-round and we have just become such lifelong friends.”
Worst News Ever
For much of her adult life, Julie M. lived with the expectation that one day she might come face to face with breast cancer.
“I’ve been getting mammograms since I was in my 30s,” Julie said. “My mom, my granny and my aunties all had breast cancer.”
Determined to stay vigilant, Julie alternated between mammograms and breast MRIs every six months.
In early 2023, Julie had a routine MRI that came back with clear results. The next month, she missed a scheduled mammogram because she was dealing with vertigo. Then, when she went in for the mammogram about one month later, she was called back for additional imaging. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong.
At age 53, Julie was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. At the time, some of Julie’s family members were in San Diego visiting from Scotland. And both of her daughters were busy preparing for their final college exams. So, she waited before delivering the news to her family.
When the time came, Julie and her husband called both of their daughters and told them together.
“It was harder to tell my daughters than it was to tell anyone else. They were 20 and 22 when I was diagnosed,” Julie recalled,. “The first thing they said was, ‘Worst news ever.’”
Julie’s daughters and husband were a great source of support as she recovered from surgery. Just a few months later, Julie walked the Boston 3-Day and then returned home to San Diego to begin radiation therapy.
Leaning on the Pink Bubble
Throughout her diagnosis and treatment, Julie also leaned on the friendships she had built through the 3-Day.
“The Pink Bubble is a real thing. It’s truly an amazing connection that you make with people that you would never cross paths with any other way,” Julie said.
Julie said she was grateful to be able to reach out to fellow 3-Day walkers and survivors for advice and strength.
“I was able to reach out to so many people, and they shared recommendations for surgeons, what to expect from treatment paths and their experiences,” Julies said. “It was a wealth of information from teammates and so many people who had been there before.”
This year, Julie is celebrating nearly two years of breast cancer survivorship and will walk in the San Diego 3-Day in November. Her advice to those who are newly diagnosed is: “Don’t let breast cancer get you down or swallow you up. Keep moving forward, because you can still come out on the other side and live your best life.”
To learn more about the 3-Day visit the3day.org
