Day 9 of Run 31, and today’s mile belongs to Michelle — who did everything right, and still almost didn’t find it in time.

Listen to Michelle’s story

She did everything right

Regular mammograms. Self checks. Michelle was the person who kept every appointment and never skipped a year.

But Michelle has dense breast tissue, and her cancer was slow growing. That combination made it essentially invisible on a mammogram. It was there for roughly ten years before anyone saw it — and nobody saw it on a scan. Michelle found it herself, when she noticed some dimpling in her skin and pushed for more testing.

That push is the whole story. Without it, she’d still be getting clear mammograms on a cancer that had been growing for a decade.

Michelle finished chemotherapy in July. She had a double mastectomy this summer. Today she is cancer free.

What Michelle wants you to take from this

“Know your body, and push for more testing if you think something is wrong.”

This isn’t a reason to skip your mammogram. Keep going — it’s still how most breast cancer gets caught, and it’s how several of the women we’ve run for this month got their diagnosis early enough to matter.

But Michelle is adding the part that doesn’t get said out loud often enough: a clear mammogram isn’t a guarantee. Ask your provider whether you have dense breast tissue, and ask what that means for you. Learn what normal looks and feels like on your own body — including changes to the skin, like the dimpling Michelle caught. And if something seems off, keep asking until somebody looks harder.

Michelle, today we run for you. Thank you for telling us the part that’s harder to hear.

Run for them. Get screened for you — and keep asking questions.

Share your miles with #KAFERuns31, follow KAFE 104.1 on Instagram, or text a photo to 360.676.5233.

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