Caroline’s Diagnosis & Info - October 24, 2025

Hi everyone! I hope wherever this finds you is as beautiful as the Cape this time of year.

I just want to start by saying I am floored beyond measured reason by the amount of love & support I’ve gotten from so, so many people. I’ve been sitting here like an idiot trying to think of a way to actually articulate what it means to me that grasps the enormity of it all, but I just don’t think it’s possible. I am so lucky to have such an amazing village of people who care so much. I hope a simple “thank you” and “love you more!” can cover it for now. 

A lot of you got my first email with the diagnosis. Let me amend it. While there are no aggressive growth proteins, this is still considered a very aggressive, fast-growing case. A slew of appointments and follow-up tests revealed a total of 4 or 5 tumors. The one in my right breast is the size of a peach, not a golf ball, and there are up to 4 lymph nodes involved, not 1. The concern about more distant spread is higher now, but based on the images taken so far, fingers, toes & eyes are crossed that it hasn’t gone any further than where we see it right now (PET scan to make sure on Tuesday!). We did see that my left breast was “maybe thinking about it” in the same place the tumor is on my right side. This all means my options for reconstruction are very limited…so I’m just going flat. Sign me up for a lifetime of comfortable jumping jacks, I guess  

I haven’t started treatment yet, but I have started the IVF/egg freezing process in the hopes of maybe still having my own kids one day. If my hormones weren’t thrown off before, they are now, lol! Even if I don’t end up using my eggs, it’s good to know the option will still be there. When I’m done with this whole egg retrieval ordeal, whether it works or not, I’m going to probably start with chemo before surgery to hopefully shrink things down and possibly eradicate the cancer in the lymph nodes so they don’t have to be removed.

The Eagles asked it best: Are you with me so far?

I’ll wrap it up with a general thought I’ve been chewing on: We, myself included, have all said to people in these situations, “this shouldn’t be happening to you. You don’t deserve this.” Maybe there is some sort of truth to that. But by using that same logic, if a heap of really great things come your way, should that not happen for you because someone else “deserves” it more? See what I mean? It doesn’t matter what the situation is. Nothing is ever about whether it should or shouldn’t have gone down a certain way. Whatever happens is what happens…and that is the one universal constant that connects every single person through this blissfully awful thing called life (well, other than death and taxes). 

As always, feel free to reach out to me. I may not respond right away but I promise I’ll do my best! Sending you and yours enough love to imbue a small country.

Now we’re all breast friends forever,

Caroline