What happened, in summary

Theresa first faced cancer in 2008, when a painful spot on her lip was biopsied and diagnosed as lip cancer. It was treated with Mohs surgery. Five years later, in 2013, she noticed her left breast looked larger and felt painful. Instead of a typical lump, she felt a hard mass. Mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy confirmed breast cancer. Her team discussed lumpectomy versus bilateral mastectomy, and Theresa chose bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. A tumor test made chemotherapy optional, and she chose not to receive it. She also did not need radiation after that first breast surgery. Because her cancer was hormone receptor-positive, she started tamoxifen during reconstruction. The drug was stopped after liver failure, restarted in 2014, and later discontinued after serious complications, including strokes, heart rhythm problems, brain aneurysms, and a craniotomy. In 2019, a routine skin check found melanoma on her back, which was removed early. Later, Theresa felt a pea-sized hard spot in the same breast area. Scans did not show cancer elsewhere, but cancer was found across the chest wall. She had an excision followed by about 3 months of radiation from the sternum through the back. As of October 2025, Theresa described herself as 6 years out from that later recurrence and living as a 4-time cancer survivor.