Meet the Models, New England: Justine Egan-Kunicki

The experience of cancer, she notes, makes one confront their own mortality, but in the same token “you also learn how strong you are. Despite the struggle, I have learned I am a strong person who can persist and continue to enjoy life.” Indeed, though she get the phrase of ‘new normal,’ Justine prefers to say she’s reframed her life now: “You find a way to make a new life.”

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Meet the Models, New England: Heather Pardo

Heather Pardo resides in the southern most tip of Texas. It’s a community she is grateful everyday to be raising her three boys in: “McAllen, TX is a real family oriented, traditional Hispanic community. Love, food and taking care of each other is part of the every day, and when something happens, like breast cancer, it’s even more so.”

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Meet the Models, New England: Ruthanne Larsen Brown

Seven years prior to her breast cancer diagnosis, Ruthanne Larson Brown felt achy/sore around her breast area. She followed up with a doctor, who gave her the all clear and told her she would be a lot more sick if she had cancer. It was a statement that not only gave her relief, but stuck with her. It’s why, seven years later, she ignored the same aches and sore feeling, instead opting to address it at her mammogram. The testing would reveal stage 2 breast cancer with indications it had spread to the lymph nodes.

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Meet the Models, SoCal: Shirley Yu

Shirley Yu’s breast cancer came as a massive surprise. She was adamant about receiving mammograms every two years and had previously been in the clear. She herself had witnessed her “niece” (though not technically related) Rachael Hsin pass away from the disease. Regular screenings gave her piece of mind, especially because she had already overcome uterine cancer.

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Meet the Models, SoCal: Laurie Ruiz

After a strange feeling under her armpit prompted a doctors appointment, Laurie Ruiz was sent for a mammogram and ultrasound, quickly followed by a needle biopsy. Her self-discovery paid off in that Laurie’s cancer was caught early- stage 1, estrogen positive breast cancer. She remembers her doctor saying, ““if you’re to get breast cancer, this is the best kind.”

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Meet the Models, SoCal: Tanja Cebula

While 2001 was an especially trying year for most Americans, Tanja Cebula had an added layer of hardship. Shortly after 9/11, on her twin boys’ 6th birthday, Tanja found out she had HER 2 positive estrogen receptor negative breast cancer. A mammogram at 40 revealed benign calcifications that were initially thought to be because of breast feeding, but a later ultrasound and biopsy would reveal cancer. She notes that she cancelled the appointment twice and feels grateful she finally showed up to her third reschedule. It would end up saving her life.

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Meet the Models, SoCal: Colleen Rivers

For Colleen Rivers, breast cancer has “impacted every aspect” of her life. When she was 15 years old, her mother, age 49 at the time, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. The months preceding her diagnosis, Colleen’s mother had severe back pain, lung fluid and was short of breath. Calcifications in her breast, found through a mammogram, were not known to doctors at the time as precursors for breast cancer. She would go on to have 9 months of chemo: “In retrospect, I think we all knew she was going to die, but she did chemo for 9 months and we are talking like 1995 chemo, so she was really sick.” While her siblings were away at college, Colleen took on the primary role of helping her mother through the illness. While she notes that she “was so grateful I got to do that for her,” it meant Colleen witnessed her mother actively dying. Diagnosed in August of 1995, her mother passed the following May.

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