Maria B.: Finding Her Voice Through Advocacy and Mentoring

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

August 19, 2025

In November 2019, at 37 weeks pregnant with her second child, Maria B. felt a lump in her breast while showering. An ultrasound of the suspicious area led to a biopsy. Lying on her side in the procedure room, Maria listened as the technician told her he’d be surprised if this wasn’t cancer.

Maria called her doctor, explained what the technician told her, and asked about being induced to have her baby. The following day, as she walked into the hospital for her induction, Maria received a call from her surgeon confirming the technician’s suspicions: She had Stage 2A triple-negative invasive ductal carcinoma. “I had a very long labor, and they had to do surgery. I had my daughter—she’s beautiful and perfect—and a week later I had a port placed and started chemotherapy,” Maria says. She was 38 years old.

Maria finished chemotherapy in March 2020 and underwent a bilateral mastectomy in April. After treatment, she was relieved to learn there was no evidence of disease.

Facing a Recurrence

Maria tried to settle into life with her newborn and older child. But a month after a September 2021 revision surgery to address asymmetry in her reconstructed breasts, she felt small deposits along one breast. An ultrasound suggested fat necrosis, a benign condition, but Maria was still concerned. She asked for the other breast to be checked, too. That scan revealed something hidden behind scar tissue – and a biopsy confirmed it was a local recurrence.

In January 2022, Maria began a second course of chemotherapy, but intuition told her it wasn’t working. After sharing her fears and pressing her doctor for imaging, Maria had an ultrasound. “It showed that my cancer had grown, and I not only had one lymph node involved – now I had three lymph nodes that were positive,” she explains.

Maria finished chemotherapy as advised by her care team. But unclear margins after surgery led to another operation, radiation across her right side combined with immunotherapy, and finally eight cycles of oral chemotherapy. In 2023, doctors again told Maria there was no evidence of disease.

Becoming a Mentor, Then a Participant

In 2023, Maria discovered ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis on social media. “I read the mission and thought, I want to do that,” she says. She completed ABCD’s New Mentor Training that September. “There’s just this different connection in the ABCD Mentor community,” Maria says. “It was like hugging a bunch of people at the same time that I’d never even met.”

That same year, Maria developed a stubborn cough after pneumonia, prompting a PET scan that showed suspicious lung nodules and activity near her collarbone. When she couldn’t reach her oncologist, Maria pushed for second opinions, eventually getting a biopsy that confirmed cancer in her neck.

In 2024, after just over one year as a Mentor, Maria again reached out to ABCD – this time to request support for herself. “I realized it’s okay to ask for help. Talking with someone who’d had a good outcome from their treatment plan really helped, and my Mentor and I still chat today,” she says.

Experiencing ABCD’s services both as a Mentor and Participant gave Maria a deeper appreciation for the value of peer support. “Knowing there’s a community of people who understand and talking to somebody who gets it, that’s hard to find,” she says. “At the time of my first diagnosis I didn’t have anyone to talk to; I didn’t know anything about cancer. Being a Mentor, you can help reduce the fear a little bit by just sharing an experience because you’ve been there.”

As a Mentor, Maria has been matched with three Participants. Each has a different path, yet she feels a strong connection to all of them. “To be able to connect with each of them in a different way, it’s comforting for me to know that I’m sharing a little piece of me. I’m letting them know there is somebody on the other line who understands, who’s here to listen and I’m only a phone call or text away,” Maria says.

Learning and Living

Through every setback, Maria has realized the importance of self-advocacy. “Ask why,” she says. “Get a second opinion. Don’t leave the office until you understand your plan. Your doctor sees a million faces, but you only have one life. You know your body.”

She’s candid about the emotional toll of cancer, too. With her first diagnosis, fear dominated, but she had a newborn and focused on what needed to be done. After the first recurrence, Maria found herself grappling with anger. “I’m learning how to channel it differently through things like meditation,” she explains. “It’s important for my well-being, but also my kids are watching. I still have to wake up, go to treatment, figure it out. I can go in angry, or I can go in with a different attitude.”

Another lesson? Don’t compare yourself to others, she says. “Everyone’s cancer is different. What worked for one person might not work for someone else. If you’re looking things up on Google, many things are based on statistics. But you’re not just a statistic; you’re not just a number,” Maria says.

Today, Maria stays focused on her family and the things she loves. She recently expanded her vegetable and flower garden, enjoys walking her dogs, and treasures time with her children. In 2025, Maria traveled to Wisconsin for her daughter’s gymnastics competition and was able to visit ABCD’s office, meeting Match Specialist Linda Settler in person for the first time. “It was really special walking around the ABCD office and spending time with Linda,” Maria says.

Maria’s story is a reminder of the impact of self-advocacy and the power of one-to-one support. As she puts it, “Having my own experience to share to comfort someone in a time of need – that’s the most rewarding part of being an ABCD Mentor.”

Maria B. was diagnosed with Stage 2A triple-negative invasive ductal carcinoma in November 2019, followed by chemotherapy and a bilateral mastectomy. After a local recurrence in June 2021, she received chemotherapy again, but unclear margins after surgery led to another operation, radiation combined with immunotherapy, and eight cycles of oral chemotherapy. In January 2024, she had a regional recurrence.