Why Be resilient?

It was the middle of the night, November 2022. Madi rolled over in her sleep, and her hand grazed against her breast. Half asleep, she felt a lump. Not thinking anything of it, she went back to bed. Throughout the rest of the month she kept it in the back of her mind. The lump never went away, so she brought it up with her doctor. Her doctor reassured her that it was nothing, she was only 26, didn’t have a family history of breast cancer, and no other symptoms. She had nothing to worry about. For her own piece of mind, they scheduled an ultrasound.

That ultrasound turned into a mammogram, which turned into a biopsy. The results came back not as nothing, but as stage 2 ductal carcinoma. Over the year to follow she would undergo an egg retrieval, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, reconstruction, 14 rounds of low dose chemotherapy and the start of daily medication she would take for the next 10 years. She did all of this, while continuing to teach her 3rd Grade students.

Being “so young” and knowing having cancer at her age was “so rare” Madi knew she wanted to start something to help young women like her. Be Resilient was founded on the idea that cancer is an illness that comes with unexpected expenses no matter your finances. Resilience is defined as the capacity to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. If you have ever met a young woman going through cancer, you know that is exactly what they are. Resilient.