09/26/2018
Introducing Jennifer Gardner
In March 2018, I noticed a sizable lump in my right breast. I was still breastfeeding my 6 month old daughter, Larkin, at the time so I figured it was a plugged duct. When my supply waned, I tried to work the bump out like I had others prior but to no avail. A month later, one of my friends from high school with a son one month older than Larkin was diagnosed with breast cancer. That floored me and prompted me to get my lump checked.
On 4/27/2018, I got the call confirming my lump was cancer, invasive Ductile Carcinoma. I was at work when I got the call and planned to stay there to keep my mind busy. My significant other, Shane Coats, was off of work with our daughter. When he got the news he offered to take us to lunch. He really dressed up for our lunch date, which I thought was sweet. He took us to one of the places we had frequently gone to lunch together. I was a mess, crying all over the place. He told me we would do this together and before I knew it was pulling a box from his pocket and asking me to marry him. WHAT?! He had planned to propose the next month on Mother’s Day, but then life happened 🙂 It was a roller coaster of emotions. Extreme low to extreme high. It meant everything to me that he chose that moment to say, without a shadow of a doubt, he was signing up for the unknown and we would ride the wave together.
After the PET scan and additional tests, the official diagnosis came back as Stage 3c with the size of the tumor, lymph node involvement and a faint mammary lighting up in my chest wall. The treatment plan was 6 rounds of taxotere, carboplatin, herceptin, and perjeta, surgery, and radiation.
We were wed just before my 3rd chemo on June 23rd with our kids, Larkin & Alex, by our side.
I’m thankful and honored to receive this nomination!
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