Andrea

Andrea was your average San Franciscan with an amazing husband, super-cute dog and a cool job at a start-up when she found out she had breast cancer.

Andrea’s cancer diagnosis at the age of 37 was full of ironies. Growing up, her mom was Chief of Radiology at Roswell Park Memorial Institute — a cancer hospital. She got her cancer diagnosis in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA) month. And she wore her Stella & Dot BCA scarf to the ultrasound appointment where her biopsy was performed.

But the most ironic thing of all was Andrea’s obsession with Giuliana Rancic – the television personality who went on the Today show to publicly announce that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer while she had been undergoing in-vitro fertilization. Andrea, too, was struggling with fertility and was inspired by Giuliana’s story to have a mammogram. Although that initial mammogram came back clear, the following year Andrea found herself playing out Giuliana’s story to a T.

During the many months of surgery and chemo, Andrea found solace and sisterhood through BAYS. In January 2015, Andrea and her husband welcomed their beautiful daughter, Nora Anjali.