Debby Alter’s Story

When you think about your breast cancer story, where does it begin?

Debby Alter’s breast cancer story began less than one year after another cancer diagnosis.

She had already been diagnosed with kidney cancer.

“I was 16 days shy of being one year cancer free when I found out through a routine mammogram that I had breast cancer,” Debby says.

The diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma.

For Debby, the news was shocking. She had done what she was supposed to do. She went for her mammograms. She was being screened. And still, the cancer was there.

 

How did you find out?

Debby had gone for her mammogram when something showed up. 

“They brought in the radiologist to look at it,” she remembers. “I go, oh yeah, that’s different.”

Doctors recommended a biopsy. Debby had had a biopsy years earlier that turned out to be nothing, so part of her hoped this would be the same. But in the back of her mind, she felt something was wrong.

Then the results appeared in her patient portal.

Debby remembers the exact moment.

“7:06 on November 6 was the exact moment that I got my portal notification,” she says.

She and her husband were sitting together, watching Wheel of Fortune. Debby asked him to turn it down so she could read the results out loud.

“I think I have breast cancer,” she remembers saying.

The next morning, her doctor’s office called.

“I said, I have breast cancer, right?” Debby says. “And she said, you do.”

 

How has breast cancer affected you?

Debby says breast cancer has changed almost everything.

“I can’t even count the ways it’s changed my life,” she says. “It’s changed the way I see things. It’s changed the way I feel like I’m seen.”

She had anxiety before, but after diagnosis, it intensified. Cancer became something that seemed to appear everywhere, in every reminder and every thought.

“The anxiety I have about cancer returning is all I think about all the time,” she says.

Therapy became an important part of her healing.

“I had never experienced therapy before,” Debby says.

Recently, she finished that chapter of therapy, joking that her therapist “broke up” with her.

It was a milestone, but the anxiety around cancer remains part of her life.

 

How did you share the diagnosis?

With her kidney cancer, Debby had kept things more private. Breast cancer felt different.

“I was very forthcoming,” she says.

Debby has worked at the same preschool for 22 years. She is the music teacher, after-school program director, and summer camp director. She has watched the school grow from one small location into three, and she is known by hundreds of families in her community.

Because she rarely took sick days, Debby knew people would notice when she was out for appointments and treatment. She and the owner of the school decided to be honest with the families.

The school sent a letter asking for privacy, support, and good thoughts.

The response was meaningful.

“The families were amazing,” Debby says.

 

What has your daughter’s support meant to you?

Debby’s daughter is 26 and lives at home.

Throughout Debby’s diagnosis and treatment, her daughter has shown a strength Debby deeply admires.

“She has been stronger than anyone in my family,” Debby says.

Debby’s daughter came to appointments with her. She came to radiation sessions. The team even let her see the machine and meet the nurses.

“She comes to appointments with me still,” Debby says.

She is also excited for Debby to walk Runway, already asking about shirts and wanting to be part of the experience.

For Debby, her daughter’s steadiness has been one of the most powerful parts of her support system.

“She’s so amazing and mature,” Debby says.

For Debby, her daughter’s steadiness has been one of the most powerful parts of her support system. But even as she raves about her daughter, Debby is quick to make sure her husband and son are not overlooked.

“They’ve all been amazing throughout this ordeal in their own wonderfully supportive ways,” she says.

Together, they have each shown up for Debby in the ways they know how.

 

Why does your story make mammograms so important?

Debby’s breast cancer was found because of a routine mammogram.

That matters.

She did not find a lump herself. She did not have a family history that made her expect this. She simply went to the appointment she was supposed to go to, and that screening found something that needed attention.

For Debby, the message is clear: mammograms can save lives.

 

What are you most excited about for Runway?

Debby is most excited to connect with people who understand.

Cancer has felt lonely. She has lost people close to her. Some people in her life do not know how to talk to her anymore. Others hold back, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

But Debby is still Debby.

“People don’t know how to talk to me anymore,” she says. “And I’m just me.”

That is part of what she hopes to find at Runway: a community where people understand without needing everything explained.

“I’m excited to meet people,” Debby says. “I want to have fun with other people that aren’t holding back.”

This October, Debby will step onto the Runway stage as someone who has faced two cancer diagnoses, moved through treatment, lived with anxiety, and still wants connection, joy, and fun.