I am a military "brat." I am a marathoner. I am also a breast cancer survivor.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2009. I was three quarters of the way through my goal of running either a marathon or half marathon every month in 2009 when I was hit with the dreaded news: "I think that’s cancer." I had found a lump on the side of my right breast back in June, but I waited a few months to have it checked by a doctor, thinking I had a cracked rib. Turns out I had both breast cancer and a cracked rib! After a whirlwind of two surgeries, tests and treatments, I finished my chemotherapy and radiation therapy in April 2010.

My family didn’t have a history of breast cancer. I was fit, ate healthy, drank green tea daily, took Vitamin D - I did everything I was supposed to do to prevent breast cancer. My diagnosis made me realize that everyone is susceptible to the disease. It does not discriminate. It made me want to make people aware and to help find a cure. That’s when I found the Susan G. Komen Marathon for the Cure.

Running the Marine Corps Marathon for Marathon for the Cure embodies the three things with which I identify the most and for which I am most proud: being a military brat, a marathoner, and a survivor. I will be able to honor my friends and all soldiers currently serving in the military, as well as my father, all of my friends’ fathers, and veterans. I will be doing one of the things I love, which is to run marathons. And by finishing the marathon, I will prove to myself that breast cancer can’t beat me - that I’m a survivor.