I cant say that my childhood was anything less than perfect.
This is what my life looked like thenand what it looks like now.
It was all quite dreamy.
I grew up on Staten Island with my parents and my older sister.
I excelled in school, and I was on the prom committee.
I got scholarships to college and had my pick of schools to choose from.
I spent summers going to India, where I was incredibly spoiled by my grandparents and relatives.
It was all quite dreamy.
I was very ambitious.
I was very ambitious when I was young.
I knew I wanted to live there one day.
One beginning
JP Morgan hired me right out of college.
And that was the beginning of my very successful 18-year career.
And another
At the same time, there was another new beginning: I got married.
And one more
Then I got pregnant and gave birth to my beautiful daughter.
The second she was placed in my arms, I knew I was meant to be a mom.
I fell so in love with her that I knew I wanted another.
I spent all of 2015 trying to get pregnant again.
I ended up having two miscarriages, which was devastating.
But 2015 had only begun to take its toll on me.
I noticed a lump in my breast.
I was living in Manhattan and was 39 years old.
But then the lump started hurting.
I didnt think anything would come of it, so I went to the appointment alone.
It wasnt until they told me that they saw something suspicious that I got nervous.
We were in shock.
We didnt really even know or understand what cancer was.
I couldnt understand how or why this had happened.
But my PET scan revealed that the cancer had already spreadit was metastatic.
That was the moment I realized I had a terminal illness.
My doctors suggested that I go on hormone therapy and enjoy the time that I had left.
My husband and I couldnt believe they could say that.
I got second and third opinions, and they were all different.
I was in bed for three months.
I lost all of my hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
Luckily, my tumor did shrink significantly after chemo.
I opted to have the surgery, followed by radiation.
It burnt my skin so badly that I could barely even put on clothes.
But I got through it.
I took one day at a time.
My priority now is doing things I love.
I realized during my radiation treatments that I couldnt continue working while also taking care of myself.
It was hard, but I decided to leave my job.
In hindsight, it was one of the best decisions Ive made.
Today I fundraise forMetavivorand spend my days talking to other women whove been diagnosed with this incurable illness.
I started a fundraiser calledMeta Bashand Ive raised more than $200,000 in the last five years.
Ive realized as a stage IV patient how underfunded metastatic breast cancer research is.
Nobody knows that better than a person who has a terminal illness.
My priority now is doing things I love and taking care of myself.
This year will be seven years since my metastatic breast cancer diagnosis.
I am fortunate to still be here, and I count my blessing every day.
Dont die before you die.
This is your time to make memories.
Use your time in the best way possible, because you might not have a lot of it left.
My daughter graduated from elementary school in June.
It was a fun year.
I truly believe its how you handle what life throws at you that is going to dictate your happiness.
