Katie is a member of the Young Survival Coalition. She agreed to do an interview about her breast cancer journey. She blogs here, when I just checked her blog she had a funny post to share about how her cleaning lady likes to party.

"i left an ativan on the bookcase last week.
she put it in the candy bowl."

How did you find out you had breast cancer?
In November 2006, I had an excisional biopsy to remove what I had been told was a fibroadenoma. A few days after the surgery I went back to the surgeon to have some stitches removed. At the time I was so convinced it was benign that I didn't think to be nervous about getting the results of the pathology report. When my surgeon told me it was cancer, I didn't get upset. I just really had no idea what "cancer" meant, as it was nothing I had ever thought about happening to me. I spent the rest of the day in shock - I didn't even cry. Incidentally, it was the same day as my nine-year anniversary with my husband. We ate a very expensive dinner in complete silence.

The passing of Dana Reeve from lung cancer, a woman of phenomenal spirit, is an immeasurable loss of beauty and goodness in this world. Dana Reeve, diagnosed with lung cancer, never smoked. According to Indiana University School of Medicine's Dr. Larry Einhorn, Reeve did not fit the typical profile of a lung cancer patient. However, lung cancer diagnosis for young non-smoking women is rising at an alarming rate. Einhorn feels the trend is a disturbing one and is not sure of the causes. He does believe second-hand smoke may be one of the factors contributing to the increase of lung cancer among young women. 

"The same amount of tobacco exposure is more likely to lead to the changes that cause lung cancer in a woman than the male counterpart who gets the same second-hand exposure. Now, why that is, no one knows," stated Dr. Einhorn, the famous oncologist who treated Lance Armstrong for cancer.

Einhorn goes on to say, "It's sometimes too easy to say that this could be due to second-hand smoke. Probably some of the cases are due to second-hand smoke, but I would guess that the majority of them are unknown as to why these young healthy women like Dana Reeve develop this terrible disease and then succumb to lung cancer."