Three years ago Ada Pham was in her elementary school classroom when she got a call from her doctor telling her she had breast cancer. Looking back, she laughs at the date: Friday, September 13, 2019. After a cyst on her right side prompted a mammogram, stage 0 breast cancer was found. The early stage meant she had time to consider her treatment options, but she endured countless tests and screenings in the weeks after diagnosis. Living in Hawaii at the time, Ada had to face those weeks alone because her family resides in California: “I had to face a lot of it on my own, which was hard.”
Read More »It’s hard to believe Lily Hsin is only 10 years old. Gregarious and well-spoken, she smiles when asked if she is ready to take to the runway by herself in her home of Southern California this January. She, of course, has some runway experience. She rocked the New England runway with her parents, Ricky and Melissa this past fall. She’s ready to do it all over again in honor of her Aunt Rachael, who passed away of breast cancer when Lily was young.
Read More »Walk into the Runway offices in Newburyport, MA and you’ll be greeted by a pink neon lit sign that says KEEP DANCING. It’s a tagline that embodies so much about our organization, but most don’t know it’s origin: “About a year or two prior to my mom’s death, Lee Ann Womack’s ‘I Hope You Dance’ became a song she loved,” says Kristin Achtmeyer. Indeed, the spirit of the song- to continue moving through hard times- has been a theme for Kristin and her family since her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis.
Read More »At 39 years old, Melissa Kahn White went in for her annual OBGYN appointment. Given her proximity to 40, her doctor encouraged her to get her first mammogram: “I wasn’t nervous or scared. It was just something on my to-do list.” After finding something suspicious, doctors ordered more testing and Melissa all of a sudden “fell into a black hole” of fear and doubt
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