The lump in Karla Keller's left breast was so big, it didn't take a physician to find it. She wasn't doing one of those arm-in-the-air, finger-probing self exams, either. "It was so big, I felt it while I was rubbing soap over it in the shower," she says.
She still wasn't prepared for the doctor's diagnosis: Three tumors in her left breast. All aggressive. Each fast-growing. She was just 23 years old.
On Sunday, she'll be one of the hundreds of pink-clad survivors, running in the Race for the Cure. But she might be the youngest one with a double mastectomy.
Keller, who works as the Fitness Director at Prairie Life Fitness in Lincoln., Nebraska, says she's always been an athlete. She was in the best shape of her life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. It just didn't make sense.
"I have no family history whatsoever," she says. "I even had genetic testing done and that was negative. So for a 23-year-old, healthy individual, who did all the right things, to have such an aggressive cancer was very unlikely. I never thought that was even a possibility."
Because of the severity of her cancer, Keller decided to have a double mastectomy. But that was just the beginning. After the reconstructive process, she started chemotherapy. Then, she took a drug called Herceptin, administered through a small hole in her chest. After a year of that, she started Tamoxifen, a drug she'll continue for the next four years.
"I love to run and that was one of the hardest things for me to take: knowing I wouldn't be able to run the Lincoln Half Marathon when I was going through chemo," she says.
But now, she's back in the race. "It's been a long battle, but I'm doing so great," she says. She ran that Lincoln Half Marathon in May and this weekend she's coming to Kansas City to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Her best friend, she says, bought her a white tank top that says "Breast Cancer Survivor" and she'll probably wear one of those pink bandanas. She's eager to make an example of herself.
"I would love to give talks at colleges or something in the future to tell younger women about breast self-exams and taking care of themselves at a young age," she says. "I was naïve."
It's not too late to join the 5K celebration. Race-day registration starts at 6 a.m. Sunday morning at Union Station.
Comments (0)