Melissa Huber’s Story

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

“My son,” Melissa says. “He’s my everything. He has gotten me through this, and he doesn’t even realize.”

In January of 2022, Melissa noticed that her left breast was enlarged and painful. She had a feeling something was wrong, but life kept moving around her. Her father-in-law passed away, her family was navigating change, and Melissa did what so many women do—she put herself last.

Just months before, Melissa and her husband had gotten married in September of 2021. Facing a diagnosis so early in their marriage brought their vows into focus in a way neither of them could have expected.

“It taught us the meaning of ‘in sickness and in health’ very early in our marriage,” Melissa says.

By June, she knew she needed to take care of herself.

“I went to see my primary care, and when I took off the gown, just the look that we gave each other—we knew. We cried together. She told me, ‘You’re too young for this, but it’s going to be okay.’ And that’s when my world changed.”

Melissa was 34.

 

What did those first weeks after diagnosis feel like?

Melissa describes them as a blur of appointments, scans, blood work, MRIs, PET scans, biopsies, and specialists.

“You see a lot of ologists,” she says. “I call them that because when you’re going through any kind of cancer, you see every kind of specialist. Whether it’s someone for your foot or a dermatologist, the ‘ologists’ forever live with you.”

One of the most meaningful moments early on came from an oncologist who encouraged her to seek care at Dana-Farber.

“He said, ‘I would not be doing my job if I did not tell you that you need to go to Dana-Farber and get everything else looked at. You are too young.’”

For Melissa, that moment changed how she saw doctors and self-advocacy.

“He taught me what it means to have a doctor who truly cares about his patient.” 

 

How did treatment begin?

On July 18, 2022, Melissa began chemotherapy with Taxol, Herceptin, and Perjeta. She went into it ready to fight, telling herself, “I got this.” But then the fatigue hit. Then came the reality of trying to keep up with her young son while her body was carrying the weight of treatment. “Seeing my son run around and being his spunky little self and me not being able to keep up with him… that was hard.”

Then came the hair loss.

 

How did you talk to your son about losing your hair?

As a mother, Melissa’s first thought was James.

“What am I going to tell my sweet little boy?” she remembers thinking. “He plays with my hair. We cuddle. What is the word cancer going to mean to him?”

So Melissa brought it down to his level.

“Mommy has a boo-boo that needs to be taken care of with medicine,” she told him. “And this medicine is going to cause Mommy’s hair to fall out.”

Then she asked if he wanted to come to the salon and help buzz her hair.

Melissa’s close friend, who owns a hair salon, made sure the moment felt as private and protected as possible. She booked Melissa for the last appointment of the day and locked the doors. “It was just my husband, James, and me. I sat down, she gave James the buzzers, and the tears started falling.”

Melissa remembers how vulnerable that moment felt.

“Our hair is like a security blanket,” she says. “It defies who we are as women. We dye it, we curl it, we throw it up. To imagine yourself being vulnerable without any, and not by choice—it felt like something was being taken away from me that I've known for so long.”

Then James looked at her and said something she will never forget.

“Mommy, you do not need hair to be beautiful. You’re beautiful with or without hair.”

 

What did that moment teach you?

“That is when I knew that my son, at only four and a half, was going to teach me what being beautiful and being strong was really about,” Melissa says. “And he did. And he still does to this day.”

 

How did your body respond to treatment?

Melissa’s initial response was strong. Her CEA levels dropped dramatically, and her tumor shrank by more than half.

She shares that part of the story because she wants other women to feel hope.

“These are just numbers, but they’re not,” she says. “They’re not just numbers. They show you what being positive and having strong people in your circle can do.”

 

Where are you now in your treatment?

Around Easter of last year, routine scans and blood work found liver lesions and bone metastases. Melissa began treatment again and is now navigating a new phase, including the anxiety that comes with new medication and uncertainty.

“It has been a rough six days,” she says of starting a new medicine. “But then that beautiful little boy just comes around the corner and smiles. He just has to speak, and he puts the joy right back into my heart.”

 

What keeps you going on the hardest days?

Melissa always comes back to James.

“I just remember that I have this little boy who is really dependent on me to be there,” she says. “He’s my reason why.

“When something bad comes, I just recenter myself and think of the happiest time ever—when I found out that I was pregnant. I always wanted to be a mom,” she says. “Those raw emotional moments are what get me through the most difficult times.”

 

What do you want other women to know?

Melissa wants women to know that positivity does not mean pretending everything is easy. It means choosing where to place your energy.

“There’s a lot of bad that you can get with this, and you can go down that whole rabbit hole roller coaster, but you can’t,” she says. “You’ve got to take the good with the good.”

She encourages others to find the thing that keeps them grounded.

“If being at the beach is that spark in your eye, then you need to think of that at every scan, every prick, every time you’re getting your blood. Find your reason why.”

 

What has Runway meant to your family?

As a funded family, she experienced firsthand what it means to have support during a time when medical bills, treatment, and everyday life can feel overwhelming.

“If it wasn’t for organizations like Runway, families like mine wouldn’t be able to say, ‘Yeah, you can do summer camp this year,’ or, ‘Yeah, you can play basketball.’” 

For Melissa, Runway’s support means families can hold onto moments of normalcy during anything but normal circumstances.

“No parent should have to say no because of cancer. No family should have to say no because medical bills are stacking up.”

Now, modeling for Runway feels like a full-circle moment: a chance to stand in the same community that once helped hold her family up.

 

How do you feel about stepping onto the Runway stage?

Melissa is ready.

“I love all eyes on me,” she says. “When I told my dad, he said, ‘Oh, this is your shining moment. You’ve been waiting for this.’”

And whether she has hair or not, Melissa knows exactly what beauty means now.

“I never wore a wig once,” she says. “Women really need to embrace that baldness. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Melissa’s story is one of motherhood, strength, honesty, and the kind of love that can carry someone through the unimaginable. At the center of it all is James—the little boy who taught his mother that beauty was never something cancer could take away.