As a noise control engineer for power plants, Rich Loud lives up to his name. But when he’s not on the job, he’s pursuing his passion: running. “I’ve become a serial marathoner,” he says. To prevent chafing while running, men often put tape over their nipples, he explains. In August…
At the age of 26, Chiara Riga made a discovery that would reshape the trajectory of her life. One day as she was lying in bed, Chiara dropped her TV remote and it landed gently on her chest. When she reached down to retrieve it, her fingers brushed against an…
Donna King’s life took an unexpected turn when she was diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome, a genetic disorder that made her more susceptible to developing various types of cancer. Having dealt with bladder cancer previously, she was devastated to face yet another challenge in 2023: invasive ductal carcinoma, a form of…
When Jennifer Kinkade, who goes by Jenn, moved from Florida to Wisconsin with her husband in the summer of 2022, she was beginning a new chapter. An occupational therapist, Jenn had accepted a full-time faculty position at a university in Milwaukee. Alongside teaching, she also runs a private practice that…
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…
Soon after turning 40 in December of 2019, Jaclyn Dillon had her first mammogram and it was all clear. Eight months later, she was at home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with her young daughter, who was celebrating her third birthday. “She knocked her head back on my…
Robin Schwarz was a busy mother of two young children when she learned she had breast cancer. It was 2010, and Robin did not know anyone else who had been diagnosed. Then friends introduced her to another woman who had also faced breast cancer and wanted to offer support. The…
It was 2016 and an exciting but hectic time for 34-year-old Jessica Barolsky and her husband Michael. They had just welcomed Noah, their new baby boy, into the world to join his big sister, 3-year-old Yael. The former rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun in River Hills, Wisconsin had also…
Since ABCD was founded in 1999, almost 800 people from across the United States have completed ABCD’s Mentor Training Program in order to provide our signature service: delivering customized, one-to-one emotional support to breast cancer patients, caregivers, survivors, and people living with metastatic disease. ABCD’s guiding principle is that everybody…
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ABCD staff and volunteer Mentors are not licensed mental health professionals, therapists, social workers, or psychologists. They do not provide medical, therapeutic, or clinical advice. ABCD’s services are intended solely to offer peer-based emotional support and shared understanding through personal experience. If you need immediate mental health services, please reach out to your medical team or the National Hotline For Mental Health Crises And Suicide Prevention by dialing 988 on your phone.