Every day, more than 1,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States alone. Globally, a woman is diagnosed every 14 seconds.
In 2024, breast cancer claimed the lives of 861 women in Maryland, with the state's death rate above the national average, according to federal health data. In Virginia, 1,204 women died.
During the heart of the coronavirus pandemic in August of 2020, this Patch editor was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer. I endured six rounds of two chemotherapies, including one that can cause permanent hair loss, as well as 16 rounds of immunotherapy.
I've taken a daily pill for five years that helps prevent recurrences, which I'll be able to stop this month, plus a year-long treatment plan of six pills per day earlier in my treatment.
I also underwent seven surgeries in six years, but in August 2026, I celebrated six years of a hard-fought battle post-diagnosis.
But my story is only one.
Three women from Maryland and one from Virginia spoke with me about their personal battles with breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. While Breast Cancer Awareness Month was in October, outreach efforts extend well beyond those four weeks.
Here are their stories, along with a reminder for all women to perform monthly self-exams and schedule an annual mammogram if it applies to them.
Harpreet Rehki, 54, of Germantown, Maryland, was diagnosed in December 2024 with stage 2 triple-positive invasive lobular carcinoma in her left breast. "Triple-positive" means the cancer can respond to the hormones estrogen and progesterone and has high levels of HER2, a protein that helps cancer cells grow. Those features help doctors choose treatments.
Breast cancer patients who need chemotherapy can receive it before or after surgery. Breast surgeons aim to obtain clear margins around the tumor or tumors, meaning no cancer cells are found at the edges of the removed tissue. If cancer cells remain at those edges, another operation may be needed.
Surgeons often remove nearby lymph nodes — small structures that help filter fluid and fight infection — and test them for cancer. A radioactive tracer, blue dye or both can help identify which nodes to remove. These substances show where fluid drains from the breast, not whether a node contains cancer. The removed nodes must be examined for cancer cells.
Rehki underwent treatment before surgery, receiving six rounds, called cycles, three weeks apart. The combination, known as TCHP, includes two chemotherapy drugs and two medicines that target HER2.
"The goal of chemo first, which is a relatively new protocol with breast cancer, was to shrink the three tumors that I had in one breast as much as possible, so that surgery would be more successful. I started chemo in January 2025 and finished that in May 2025," Rehki said.
Four weeks after her last round of chemotherapy, Rehki underwent a bilateral mastectomy, surgery to remove both breasts, with immediate DIEP flap reconstruction. That procedure uses skin, fat and blood vessels from the lower abdomen to rebuild the breasts instead of implants. She said recovery was tough because her abdominal incision opened in a few spots and took longer to heal.
Once her skin had fully healed, Rehki started 14 cycles of Kadcyla in September 2025, finishing in June. Kadcyla combines a medicine that attaches to HER2 with a chemotherapy drug, helping deliver treatment directly to cancer cells that have the protein.
Patients whose breast cancer responds to hormones may also benefit from hormone therapy. Options include tamoxifen, often used before menopause, and aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole or letrozole, commonly used after menopause. These medicines work by blocking estrogen's effects on cancer cells or reducing the amount the body produces.
Rehki said she will soon start neratinib, another medicine that blocks HER2 signals that help cancer cells grow.
"Only the largest tumor that I had was picked up as something suspicious in a routine mammogram, but because I have dense breasts, it was not confirmed right at that time," Rehki said.
She said additional testing included an ultrasound, a diagnostic mammogram and a biopsy, which involves taking a tissue sample to check for cancer.
"Following a biopsy, I had an MRI of the breasts, which picked up two additional smaller tumors in the same breast," she said.
Each stage of treatment dished out different hurdles, Rehki said, and the side effects of chemo were "brutal."
"I got terribly dehydrated just in the first cycle to the extent that about two days after the first chemo, and I had severe palpitations and fatigue — I did not even have the energy to shower," Rehki said.
She needed IV hydration throughout chemo, which helped during the three weeks between the two cycles of chemo. She now has lymphedema, which many breast cancer survivors deal with after lymph nodes are removed.
Fatigue accumulates with each round of chemo. Neuropathy in the hands and feet is a common side effect of the chemo used for breast cancer treatment. Not all chemotherapies lead to hair loss, but the typical ones used to treat breast cancer do cause it. Some women opt for cold capping, a process that helps save their hair.
"I was only the second patient in my infusion center to have cold capping or scalp cooling, which helped me save a good percentage of my hair and gave me a little sense of normalcy during chemo," Rehki said.
Recovery from her DIEP flap surgery proved to be a mountain to climb, because you cannot stand up straight and stay hunched over for several weeks. Rehki ended up sleeping in a recliner for a few months after surgery. She also opted for physical therapy to help with her overall recovery.
"I feel like I have aged so much with the entire treatment. And of course, the diagnosis and the entire treatment process did cause an extreme amount of stress and anxiety and sleep disruption," Rehki shared.
With chemotherapy behind her, Rehki continues taking medication to reduce the risk of cancer returning and has regular blood tests, checkups and follow-up scans. She also needs surgery to remove her chemotherapy port, a small device used to deliver treatment, and revise an abdominal scar that has become tight and uncomfortable.
Before her diagnosis, Rehki exercised regularly, worked an active job and carefully watched what she ate. She avoided fried and processed foods and had replaced plastic containers and nonstick cookware.
"Despite all that, I got cancer," she said.
That has been frustrating, she admitted. Rehki said she is struggling to return to her life before cancer, sleep well and regain the energy to exercise regularly.
Rehki, who has a family history of breast cancer, encourages women to keep up with medical appointments and mammograms and discuss breast changes with their doctors.
"If you have dense breasts, definitely talk to your doctor to see if you qualify for an MRI," she said.
She also encourages women with a strong family history to ask about genetic testing and whether they need additional screening.
Rehki credits friends, family and neighbors with helping her through treatment. Her 25-year-old son helped her make medical decisions and remained her rock throughout the experience.
A cancer diagnosis doesn't just impact the person who received it. While all efforts focus on beating breast cancer, family members also go through their own grief journey during a loved one's battle.
Joyce Gwyn, 58, of Laurel, Maryland, said she was crushed when telling her daughters, Shanae and Shanell, that she had breast cancer.
"I knew there was no way I could protect them from the news I was going to tell them," Gwyn said. "Seeing them upset and devastated hurt me. I was more concerned about them than myself. It was so hard when I had to tell them."
Gwyn was diagnosed in August 2023 at stage three after discovering something concerning during a self-exam. She was treated with chemotherapy, and then radiation focused on the left side of her breast.
Breast cancer treatments are mentally, physically and emotionally taxing. Radiation can burn and leave skin like leather. Chemo fog is real, people will say. And so many emotions will blanket a patient — shock, denial, fear, anxiety, sadness, grief, anger, frustration, loneliness.
"I was just tired, and I felt I didn't have enough energy some days. The issues that I currently face are neuropathy in my feet, tenderness around the radiation site. I get spasms in my feet and hands," Gwyn said.
As she continues moving forward from her diagnosis, Gwyn admits she needs to exercise more and make more conscientious eating choices.
"But I say take each day at a time. Do 15 minutes a day and build yourself up," she said.
What hurt her heart even more than telling her two daughters she had breast cancer was to watch one of them hear those same gut-wrenching, heartbreaking words: You have cancer.
Gwyn's daughter, 36-year-old Shanae Brooks of Alexandria, Virginia, was diagnosed in July 2024 with 1A early-stage HER2+ breast cancer less than a year after her mom's diagnosis. She also discovered a suspicious lump during a self-exam.
"I had to receive three forms of chemotherapy medication, radiation and a shot in my stomach every three months," she shared. "I have to take one tablet every day for five years, and five tablets every day for one year."
Brooks had set her sights on ringing the bell, a tradition that signals the successful end of cancer treatment. Now, it was her turn to rise victorious from what she'd endured. But one week before she was to ring the bell, her then-boyfriend proposed.
"He was very concerned, but he was very encouraging throughout the process," Brooks said. "He handled my feelings with care, but it was definitely difficult for him to see me in this situation."
As a young woman, Brooks had to think not only about herself, but also about any future children she hoped to have after treatment. Most women who undergo chemo and aren't through having children are encouraged to freeze their eggs beforehand.
"I currently think about my future and the process I have to go through to have children," she said. "I cry every time thinking about it because I don't know what that looks like for me."
She continued, "I'm definitely leaving it up to God because it's out of my hands."
Brooks had to stimulate egg production to harvest and freeze them. That left her tired and overwhelmed before she ever started chemo.
Brooks said her hair fell out after her first chemotherapy treatment, and changes in taste made food seem so salty she barely wanted to eat.
"I took it each day with grace," she said.
She said she continues to experience nerve problems in her hands, treatment-induced changes associated with the transition to menopause, weight gain, low sex drive and spasms.
As she continues down the road to recovery, Brooks works out periodically, works with a nutritionist and meditates.
"I'm still a work in progress. I have my days where I go up and down," she admitted.
Moniesha Shorter, 51, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, had faced breast cancer twice when she received a third diagnosis: stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, meaning the disease had spread to other parts of her body.
Shorter was first diagnosed in May 2016 with ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, commonly called stage 0 breast cancer. At that stage, abnormal cells remain inside the breast's milk ducts without spreading into surrounding tissue. Her second diagnosis came in 2019 at stage 1A, an early stage of invasive breast cancer. In July 2021, she learned she had stage 4 disease.
She said testing that led to her diagnosis included a routine mammogram and MRI.
Advances in research and treatment mean a stage 4 diagnosis does not leave patients without options. Although metastatic breast cancer generally cannot be cured, treatment can help control its growth, manage symptoms and extend a patient's life.
Early in her treatment, Shorter chose a double mastectomy, surgery to remove both breasts. She said it was one of the hardest decisions she has made.
"At the time it felt aggressive — it was permanent," Shorter told Patch.
She also underwent radiation during her second diagnosis. She now takes hormone therapy, which blocks hormones that can help some breast cancers grow.
"I'm now on hormone therapy and have responded well to the treatment," she said.
The challenges have extended beyond treatment and recovery. Shorter said she sometimes felt alone and misunderstood, including by people in her faith community who meant well.
"Pursuing medical care wasn't a betrayal of my faith; it was part of my responsibility in the healing process," she said.
After three diagnoses, Shorter has turned her experience into a platform to champion early detection, preventive care and equal access to quality health care, particularly for Black women.
"Learn your body and pay attention when something feels different," she said. "And when you're in that exam room, speak up — ask questions, don't feel intimidated and don't leave until you understand your options."
The Prince George's County woman also shared lessons from her experience in her book, "Function: Embracing Your Divine Design for Purpose and Impact."
"I realized that using our experiences and natural abilities to serve others is spiritual service," she said.
Through it all, her husband, Earl, has been her biggest cheerleader and champion.
"Through every diagnosis, every surgery, every waiting room, he believed in me on the days when believing in myself felt difficult," she said.
Nonprofits help breast cancer patients manage the challenges of treatment, from providing meal gift cards to organizing walks that celebrate survivors and remember those who have died.
Shannon Moneymaker is executive director of For 3 Sisters, an Olney-based nonprofit founded in 2011 to ease those burdens and ensure no one faces breast cancer alone.
Over the past 15 years, the organization has helped hundreds of women and their families with practical support, Moneymaker said. Its outreach has reached tens of thousands with information about early detection and breast cancer screening.
Moneymaker and her husband, Marshall, founded the organization in honor of his sisters, who died of breast cancer. While helping care for his sister Penny, they encountered gaps in services and obstacles to getting help.
"We set out to remove those hurdles for breast cancer patients and their families," Moneymaker said.
Marshall, then an active-duty Montgomery County firefighter, also wanted to raise awareness about screening after learning his sisters had not regularly checked their breasts or received mammograms.
But the organization's work extends beyond awareness. Along with managing treatment, patients may need help caring for children, preparing meals, cleaning their homes and navigating insurance.
For 3 Sisters works to understand each person's circumstances and find support that meets those needs, Moneymaker said.
"We believe that no two people experience breast cancer the same way, and neither should the support they receive," she said. "We take the time to listen, understand what someone is going through and figure out how we can help."
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