Beth Gramz: Mentoring With Care, Giving Back With Heart

— By Megan Brown, ABCD Marketing & Communications Support, and Edited by Gina Rich

June 18, 2025

When Beth Gramz felt a hard lump in her armpit in the fall of 2018, she chalked it up to the flu shot she’d received days earlier. A month later, the lump was still there, and now she had an adjacent one in her breast after doing a self-exam. “I became paranoid because I’d lost my grandmother when I was 11 to breast cancer. I knew I couldn’t ignore it anymore, so that’s when I made the call to my doctor,” recalls Beth, a busy mom of three who works full-time as a support services manager, co-owns a craft business, and raises chickens.

On Halloween, at age 33, Beth was diagnosed with Stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer — only 18 months after giving birth to her youngest child and two weeks after a cousin was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. “My first thought was, ‘What if my kids don’t remember me?’” says Beth. After genetic testing, she discovered she carries the BRCA1 mutation. “I experienced a little bit of guilt when I found that out because of having three kids.”  

Her children were ages 9, 7, and 1 at the time of her diagnosis. “Going through treatment with three little kids was exhausting in every possible way. It’s exhausting even if you don’t have kids because chemo, and surgery, and radiation – they take it out of you,” says Beth.

During sleepless nights as she coped with the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, or simply if she felt the urge, Beth began writing in journals for each of her children. The activity was cathartic, she says. “At first it was just in case I didn’t make it. Now I write in them for occasions like the first day of school. It’s grown into something more hopeful, and I want to give them the journals when they each graduate from high school.”

Finding Support in the Hardest Moments

While she was going through treatment, Beth felt enormous pressure to appear strong. “I realized I’m not okay as much as I’m pretending to be outwardly to everyone else, because everyone’s expecting me to be brave,” she explains. After a particularly difficult day, she remembered a pamphlet her nurse navigator left at the top of a stack of information. It was from ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. “She told me to call them if I was feeling any kind of way and wasn’t sure who to talk to, so I did,” says Beth.

ABCD quickly connected Beth with a Mentor named MaryAnn. “Our first phone call lasted two hours. We texted and talked throughout my entire journey,” Beth says. When the women discussed surgeries, Beth learned that – like her – MaryAnn had also chosen aesthetic flat closure after a bilateral mastectomy. “I don’t know how else to word it except that my connection with her felt like fate,” Beth says. “There are so few of us who make that choice. Having someone who truly understood gave me confidence in my decision.”

Giving Back With ABCD

Beth’s connection with ABCD didn’t end when treatment did. “I looked into what you needed to do to become a Mentor right away,” she says.

Since completing ABCD’s Mentor training in December 2020, Beth has supported 40 people – an incredible number. “Being a Mentor isn’t about me,” she explains. “I mentor based on what my Participant needs. If they need a lot of texts and calls, if they want me to check in on them once a month to see how they’re doing, or if they want to be able to call or text me as needed and only want me on their terms, that’s what I give them.”

After ABCD asked Beth to do an interview for Catwalk for a Cause – a fashion show hosted annually by the Institute of Beauty and Wellness to benefit ABCD – Beth realized how passionate she was about giving back. “I thought if there’s anything extra I can do, I’m going to do it,” she says.

In addition to being an ABCD Mentor, Beth serves on ABCD’s Events Committee and volunteers at ABCD fundraising events. A favorite of hers is the Milwaukee Milkmen ROC’n Pink game where Beth and her younger son have coordinated the ball toss activity. “I tell everyone about ABCD. I’m basically a walking billboard,” she laughs.

Newfound Confidence and Ongoing Healing

Reflecting on her breast cancer experience, Beth has noticed a few emerging themes. “The biggest surprise for me was my confidence grew when I realized I was responding to chemo and everything was going really well,” she says. “And that’s one thing you don’t expect, right? Who thinks that cancer is going to make you feel better about yourself? Nobody.”

She also points out that the end of treatment isn’t the end of cancer. “PTSD is real. You carry it with you and the healing journey can be long.” She credits her family, especially her husband Tyler, for the steadfast support. “When I could only be 10% of myself, he was 90% of our family. You don’t think about it, but husbands go through it too. Breast cancer is a family affair.”

As Beth gives back to others facing the disease, her family has continued to support her. “If I walk in the door and tell my husband I have an ABCD call, he says, ‘Okay, just let me know where you’re going to go and I’ll take care of the kids.’ It’s an important part of our life,” Beth says.

Beth was diagnosed in October 2018 with Stage 3 triple-negative invasive ductal carcinoma. She also carries the BRCA1 mutation. Her treatment included chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy with aesthetic flat closure, and radiation.