Two years ago, Jamie Debates was running her first ever Race for the Cure. She had just beaten breast cancer. But her ordeal began 6 months earlier.
"I say an angel came down and pinched me because I was sitting at the stoplight and I felt a pinch and I thought it was the under wire of my bra and so I went to move it and I felt the lump."
That lump turned out to be triple negative breast cancer. She was only 39. "I felt very alone with triple negative breast cancer. When you go online and you Google search triple negative breast cancer I swear I should have had one foot in the coffin."
Fast forward two years, and today Jamie is now healthy. Her hair has grown back. Her complexion shines. But what lies underneath this healthy shell is a fear most, if not all, cancer survivors share, it's a worry, a nag, that it could all happen again. "I do feel like I've conquered it. I don't know if it's behind me or it will ever be behind me because it's paralyzing when you're diagnosed with cancer. I had a teenage daughter at the time and a little eight-year-old daughter and it's paralyzing because I want to be there for my children so no, I don't know that I have conquered it. I still have that anxiety of it coming back."
She battles that anxiety by supporting organizations like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, eating a healthy diet and taking vitamins and regular exercise. "I don't know if any of this is going to help. It makes me feel better. It makes me feel like I'm taking charge and I'm doing something to keep myself healthy.
The Race for the Cure is coming up Sunday, October 5th at GSR in Reno. For more information go to
http://komennorthnv.org/2014-northern-nevada-race-for-the-cure/
