What happened, in summary

Caroline McGuirk first noticed that her right breast felt tighter in September 2020. Over the following weeks, she developed swelling, redness, and dimpling, and later felt masses behind the nipple. Because she was 31 and otherwise healthy, breast cancer had not seemed likely to her. By Christmas Eve 2020, she had been diagnosed with Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer that had spread to her pelvic bone. In 2021, Caroline received 20 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by a modified radical right mastectomy with lymph node removal and then 6 weeks of radiation. Her family was close by during treatment, and her employer allowed her to keep working remotely. At age 33, Caroline was still receiving regular infusions to control the disease. She also turned her experience into advocacy, helping raise more than $100,000 for inflammatory breast cancer research and encouraging others to recognize that breast cancer can present with redness, swelling, and skin changes rather than only a lump.