Allison Casperson: Still Being Mom While Facing Breast Cancer

— By Megan Brown, ABCD Marketing Manager

September 29, 2026

For Allison Casperson, some of the best moments are the ordinary ones: being outside with her sons, Ethan and Graham, watching them play soccer, hockey and baseball, or heading to the beach with her family.

After spending months feeling like she was on the sidelines during breast cancer treatment, simply being able to participate again means more.

“I love getting to be there with them again,” Allison says.

That appreciation for everyday moments is one of many ways life has changed since Allison was diagnosed with breast cancer at 33. It’s also part of what inspired her to use her experience to help others.

Navigating Breast Cancer as a Young Mom

Allison’s diagnosis began when she noticed bleeding in her bathing suit top while at the beach with her family. A mammogram initially found ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), but an MRI showed additional areas of concern. After seeking a second opinion and undergoing further biopsies, Allison learned days before a planned bilateral mastectomy that she also had Stage 2B HER2-positive breast cancer.

Instead of proceeding immediately with surgery, Allison began chemotherapy. But as overwhelming as the medical side of cancer was, Allison said one of her greatest challenges was figuring out how to be a mom through it all when her sons were only 3 and 4 at the time.

“Getting cancer didn’t change the fact that they still needed me to be mom,” she says. “They still needed breakfast and hugs and bedtime stories.”

Allison wanted to be honest without making their world feel frightening. Her boys knew she had cancer and that the “strong medicine” she was taking made her sick and tired. They also noticed changes Allison couldn’t hide, particularly when chemotherapy caused her to lose her hair.

“I’m not only carrying my own diagnosis. I’m constantly thinking about my kids and how it’s affecting them,” she said.

At the same time, her sons gave Allison purpose during some of her hardest days. She wanted their lives to remain as normal as possible and to make sure cancer didn’t overshadow the love and happy memories they shared as a family.

Finding the Connection She Had Needed

After treatment, Allison began searching for ways to give back to the breast cancer community. That’s when she found ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis.

ABCD’s personalized, one-to-one support immediately resonated with her. Before her mastectomy, Allison had connected with a peer Mentor through her cancer center and remembered the reassurance of talking with someone who truly understood.

But she wished she had experienced that kind of connection earlier.

During chemotherapy, Allison was significantly younger than the other patients she encountered and didn’t know anyone else going through breast cancer while parenting young children.

“I know how much it would have meant for me to have that,” she remembers. “That’s another reason why I wanted to be that person for someone else.”

Allison became an ABCD Mentor in November 2025 and has since been matched with four Participants. “I was struck by how quickly a connection could form between two people who had never met but shared the experience of breast cancer.”

The most meaningful conversations, she explains, are often the most honest ones, about fears surrounding treatment, worries about what comes next, and trying to feel like yourself again.

“I can’t take away what they’re going through, but as an ABCD Mentor, I can listen and share my experience,” Allison says. “Sometimes it’s just about saying that you understand what they’re going through because you really do.”

When the Mentor Needed a Mentor

Once treatment ended, Allison found survivorship brought emotions she hadn’t anticipated. During active treatment, she had focused on getting through the next appointment or procedure while continuing to be there for her family. When that constant medical monitoring ended, so did a sense of security she hadn’t realized she relied on.

Around the same time, Allison lost a friend that had the same type of breast cancer she did.

“All those emotions that I had been putting aside came flooding back all at once,” she said.

Allison realized she needed support, too, and reached out to ABCD to be matched with a Mentor of her own.

Being able to openly talk about grief, fear and survivorship helped her process emotions she had been carrying alone. It also deepened her understanding of something she now shares with the people she Mentors: needing support doesn’t end when treatment does.

“It reminded me that it’s okay to need support too,” Allison said. “I found that it gave me more strength asking for help than I was expecting.”

Turning Cancer Into Ways to Help Others

Today, in addition to serving as an ABCD Mentor, Allison wrote “Strong Like Mom,” a children’s book inspired by her experience navigating cancer with her sons. Allison wanted to create the kind of book she had searched for during treatment, one that could help children feel safe and hopeful without making cancer the entire focus.

“I wanted kids to feel less scared,” Allison says. “And I wanted parents to feel less alone and that they didn’t have to have all the right words to say.”

She also runs Gnome Stress, Gnome Worries, creating gnome-themed stress toys and gifts designed to bring a little comfort or joy to someone’s day.

For Allison, these are all ways of using what she went through to help someone else.

“I never would have chosen this experience,” she says. “But I can choose to use it for something good and bring hope to someone else.”

Allison Casperson was diagnosed in July 2024 with Stage 2B ER- PR- HER2+ invasive lobular carcinoma. Her treatment included chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy with implant reconstruction, and immunotherapy.