Survivor Series

From the best shape of her life one day to a cancer patient in full-blown treatment the next By ELLYN SANTIAGO Cassie Morrison was 41 in the winter of 2019 and was arguably in the “best shape” of her life. The Westbrook wife and mother, also a ZUMBA instructor and half marathon runner, was copious

Christine Toner’s story is not defined by her diagnosis By ELLYN SANTIAGO It was on a summer day, and her 25th wedding anniversary, that Christine Toner’s physician called and confirmed the diagnosis. “I dropped the phone,” the 55-year-old mother of two, shares. ”It was like a two-by-four hit me straight on the head.” In 2019,

“I walk to keep up hope, keep sharing our community’s passion that someday there’ll be a cure.”  By ELLYN SANTIAGO Minerva Sadorra’s breast cancer journey story is at once heart-wrenching and heart-warming.  Thirteen years after being first diagnosed, she goes “back in time”, a difficult place to go, to share her story with TBBCF: “Hopefully,

Survivor Series: Pamela Morris Watt and her incredible “pink posse” by ELLYN SANTIAGO After learning in 2008 that her friend Pam Watt had been diagnosed with two types of breast cancer, Nancy Fraser Shepard had an idea about how to offer support. And the TBBCF Walk Team Pam’s Pink Posse was conceived. Born to support

‘I can’t believe I’m making this call, but you have breast cancer.’ By ELLYN SANTIAGO Amelia “Amy” Caster is a survivor, though she hasn’t always seen herself that way. “For a very long time, I had a hard time thinking of myself as a survivor. I had so many people to help carry me through,”

“It was a bad chapter in my life, but cancer doesn’t scare me.” By ELLYN SANTIAGO Lacey Irons was 46 when, following a mammogram in 2020, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It runs in her family. Both her mother and grandmother had postmenopausal ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS, and both survived it. The

Yolanda Lowe’s story is at once heartbreaking and life-affirming By ELLYN SANTIAGO Grieving the sudden, and devastating, death of her cherished husband, it was the couple’s beloved dog Bella, pictured left with Yolanda, who never left her side. And soon, would likely save her life. Yolanda Lowe’s story is at once heartbreaking and life-affirming. A

”You’re just trying to get through. It is a journey, and you just do the best you can.” by ELLYN SANTIAGO Uma Kuruganti pictured at a walk in New York City Now retired, former Pfizer Clinical Operations Director, Uma Kuruganti, underwent a lengthy, rigorous, and sometimes painful rollercoaster of breast cancer treatment nearly a decade

Her treatment journey began 27 years ago when “they threw cannons at you.” By ELLYN SANTIAGO Cancer, especially breast cancer, has been unwelcome but omnipresent in Elisse Rosen’s family going back generations. Three women in her family lost their cancer battles.  Elisse has breast cancer, but she’s a survivor. In the truest sense of the

TBBCF names 2023 honorary walk co-chairs By Ellyn Santiago They were both diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. The journeys of survivors Pamela Morris Watt and Shelley Gregory are at once different and yet so very much the same. Now, the two devoted Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation walkers and volunteers have been named the