Monique Morris: Finding the Beauty and Joy in Life After Breast Cancer

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

July 22, 2025

At age 31, Monique Morris noticed a lump in her right breast. A young mom who was about to marry the love of her life, Monique thought the lump might be related to breastfeeding and decided to get it checked after her honeymoon.

The appointment didn’t go as planned. “I expected my doctor to agree with my assumption that it was due to breastfeeding, but she ordered my first mammogram and an ultrasound instead,” Monique says. The doctor also scheduled a biopsy and sent Monique home, where Monique played an anxious game of refreshing the patient portal until her imaging results became available. When she read the words “highly suspicious for malignancy,” the biopsy felt like a dreaded formality.

In June 2022, just six weeks after getting married and celebrating her son’s first birthday, Monique was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The Weight of the Diagnosis and Parenting Through Cancer

“My mom, who had come over to watch my son while I worked, was the first person I had to deliver the news to,” Monique remembers. Her mother had already experienced the unimaginable pain of losing two children. “My heart broke looking at the two of them and considering a reality where my mom could lose another child and my son could lose his mom before he was old enough to really remember me,” Monique says.

Monique had Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma, with multiple tumors in her breast and confirmed spread to her lymph nodes. Her treatment included 16 rounds of chemotherapy, a mastectomy, 25 rounds of radiation, reconstruction surgeries, and up to 10 years of endocrine therapy. Not only did the diagnosis mean putting the dream of expanding her family on hold, the news came right after a difficult experience with postpartum depression. “I was just starting to feel a bit more like myself again,” she shares.

Processing this reality while working full-time and being a new mom and wife was overwhelming. “Parenting through cancer puts a lot of pressure on you, but one thing I found helpful was to lean into all the positive things that were there before cancer,” Monique says. “You’re not going to be happy all day, but even if for five minutes you can find joy in some of the normal things that are still there – that cancer can’t take away from you – it helps.”

Turning Gratitude into Action

As Monique navigated treatment and leaned on her faith and family, she began to feel a shift where gratitude became her grounding force. “Gratitude wasn’t just about appreciating what I still had; it was also about expressing my gratitude by helping others,” she says.

That mindset led her to ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. Monique was referred to ABCD by a nurse navigator shortly after her diagnosis, but she held off on getting matched with a Mentor, realizing that professional therapy was what she needed most. Once she finished active treatment, Monique bumped into ABCD Director of Healthcare & Community Partnerships Keeshia Jones, rekindling a connection. “I met Keeshia at an event where she was tabling for ABCD and she kept me in the loop on when would be a good time to do the Mentor training,” Monique says.

Becoming a Mentor and Finding Healing

Monique completed ABCD’s New Mentor Training in September 2024 and has already been matched with two Participants. “In both cases, there were specific experiences we shared, like parenting young children,” she says. “That’s the power of the specialized approach ABCD takes in matching.”

In one particularly meaningful conversation, Monique and her Participant bonded over the feeling of urgency to live fully after cancer, while balancing the frustration of when your body can’t keep up. “She told me she felt seen in having that conversation,” Monique says. “But I felt seen, too.”

For Monique, being an ABCD Mentor is both a way to give support and access a vital part of her own healing. “It offers the opportunity for you to feel seen and heard in ways you might not even know you need to feel seen and heard in, which can only come from talking to someone who’s been through the same thing,” Monique says.

Life Beyond the Diagnosis

A proud Milwaukee native, Monique is a lifelong public servant whose career has focused on supporting the community. She loves cooking, baking, adult coloring books, and spending time with her husband and son. She’s also passionate about helping others understand how all-encompassing the impact of a diagnosis can be, especially for young adults. “Beyond your physical body, I wish there was a greater understanding of all the other aspects – your mental health, your career, the health of your family – that all work together,” Monique says.

She also wants young moms navigating cancer to hear this: “It’s okay for kids to see that you’re having a hard time, but I think it’s also important for them to see you be a little resilient and still acknowledge that there’s happiness.”

Despite considering herself an introverted and private person, Monique has shared her story in powerful, public ways, including on stage at A Night Out for ABCD: Illuminate and in a special NPR series. “If you’d told me I was going to do anything like that, I would’ve said no way,” she laughs. “But I decided early on that this experience would not be in vain. If I can share my story and help other people, let them know it’s possible to still experience beauty, joy, and happiness in life, and still be whole—that’s the good that comes from all of this.”

Through her role as an ABCD Mentor, Monique is showing others that connection and support during challenging times can spark healing and hope.

Monique was diagnosed in June 2022 with Stage 2 ER+ PR+ HER2- invasive ductal carcinoma. She had chemotherapy, a mastectomy, radiation, reconstruction surgeries, and is on endocrine therapy.