Only 25 when her cancer was found, Katharina wants women to know no one is too young for breast cancer.

We should probably start at the beginning: It was December 2019 when I felt the lump in my breast. My gynecologist told me I would be too young for breast cancer as I was only 25, and I don’t have any family history. But just to make sure she sent me to an ultrasound.

After the nurse did my ultrasound, she went and spoke to the doctor. She said the lump looked a bit odd and the doctor decided to do a biopsy right away.

After a few weeks of waiting, came the call to come to the medical center to discuss results, and March 9th was the day I heard the words I will never forget, “you have cancer”
I could not move, talk, think, I was completely paralyzed.

I went alone to the appointment during my lunch break from work. Once I was in the car I called my husband telling him the news. We just got married 6 months ago and we were planning our future, babies and all what recently married couples do. We did not think we would need to be dealing with this. But now we had to fight, before going on with life.

It was hard to process all the decisions that had to be made regarding treatment, and to go to all the testing alone, due to the Pandemic. but I was in good hands. I trusted my medical team with the decisions. After more testing (CT, MRI, Bone scans) we decided on lumpectomy and radiation, and now I am on a hormone blocker to hopefully keep you out of my body.

It has not been an easy journey with you.
I realized how fortunate I am to have my family, husband, my dog and my friends.
I realized how fortunate I am, where I live and how I live, I am able to enjoy nature, my surroundings and all the little things that lives brings!

Dear Cancer, you may have started this fight, but I will finish it!
I now have started to advocate and raise awareness for young woman: you are never too young for cancer. If you have any symptoms, please get checked as soon as possible.

Advocate for yourself – request an ultrasound or mammogram just to be sure!
If anyone has any questions, would like to talk or just to connect, feel free to reach out!