The weekend belonged to two survivors — Shannon on Saturday, Mary on Sunday. Days 17 and 18, and we’re past the halfway mark.

Saturday — We run for Shannon

Shannon is funny, quick-witted, always smiling — the kind of person who can turn your day around just by walking into the room.

In 2011, in her fourth and final year of graduate school, a few months from graduating and just after her 29th birthday, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Twenty-nine. No family history at all.

Five months of chemotherapy, a mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery later — and she’ll tell you she got a new boob for her 30th birthday. She’s been cancer free since October 2011, and she shared her whole journey in a blog so other people wouldn’t have to go through it in the dark.

Watch Saturday’s dedication:

Shannon’s message is the one we needed this month

If you feel something, tell your doctor.

And if they don’t believe you — keep going. Keep advocating for yourself. Don’t let anyone wave you off because there’s “probably nothing there,” or because you’re too young for something to be wrong.

Shannon was 29, with no family history, and she had a doctor who believed her and ordered every test. That’s the only reason this story has the ending it has.

Sunday — We run for Mary

Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and went through six months of chemotherapy. She’s been cancer free since 2018.

Here’s what we love about how she got through it. Mary is an avid, genuinely gifted scrapbooker and card-maker — she sells her work at craft fairs around town. And when she was in treatment, she kept crafting. She stayed busy on purpose, because staying busy kept her spirits up.

The rest of the time, she was busy with her family. And she’ll tell you her friends and family were extraordinary through all of it — supportive, present, helpful. That’s a theme this month keeps handing us.

Watch Sunday’s dedication:

Shannon and Mary — these miles are yours

One of you was 29 and had to push to be believed. One of you kept making beautiful things straight through chemo. Both of you are still here, and both of you said yes to having your story told so someone else might catch theirs early. Thank you.

Run for them. Get screened for you.

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