I’ve always been aware of breast cancer. I know so many strong women who have faced it, and I’ve admired the dignity and strength with which they carried something so heavy.

And now, here I am.

The past few weeks have been rough. From noticing my lump, to the scans, to the biopsy and now, the confirmation.

I have breast cancer.

Hearing those words drained the life out of me. I couldn't help but immediately feeling like this was a death sentence. It is not, and for this I am deeply grateful for. I do think it is the stigma around cancer causing me to think this way. Anyway, this is a chat for another day.

Back to my story. So, even though we suspected a positive result for cancer after my first ultrasound, I still prayed to be one of the 5% who hear different news when faced with a BI-RADS 5 report. But I wasn’t.

So, my road ahead looks very different to the one I had imagined. It’s a sharp reminder that we are not in control of life but it’s also a reminder that we are in control of how we walk through it. How we face the hard days, how we choose to show up, and how we allow these seasons to shape us rather than break us.

I don't know how I will show up because I don't even know what lies ahead. All I do know, that now more than ever, I have to stand strong in my faith and in my own strength.

I don’t want to attach this chapter to milestones, but I know I can’t separate them either.

My daughter’s 4th birthday.

Our second Christmas in Slovenia.

Stepping into 2026.

I don’t want those memories shadowed by the words cancer. Yet the truth is, there’s no way around this: only through it.

Just as the seasons are shifting into autumn and winter, my life feels like it is too. But even after the darkest and coldest winters, spring comes, right?

Summer comes, right?

And with it, new celebrations, new memories, and, I believe, health, right?

At this moment in time my brain is flooded with a million emotions. Most of them so contradictory of each other too.

Right now, my mind feels heavy. Life feels too fast. I’ll probably write more in the weeks and even months ahead, because there’s so much to let out, so much to process.

But this much I know:

this won’t break me.

It will shape me.

It’s part of my story now but it will not define me.

If this finds you in your very own chapter of Breast Cancer, hold your head up high. I am holding mine up with you.

Liza

xoxo