Fennewald's Fighters

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Fennewald's Fighters

Fighting for a cancer-free world where treatment is affordable for all.

10/07/2026

Happy International Flat Day! Today is a reminder that your body is your choice. It's also a reminder that flat is an option AND should be presented as one. And, flat is beautiful, just like you. It took me several years after being diagnosed with cancer to get to this point, but I'm happy I finally got to choose the reconstruction that was right for me.

10/04/2026

This is my sixth breast cancer awareness month since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 at age 36. While I want to continue to bring awareness, my focus has shifted. It’s changed as my breast cancer experience evolves.

Today, the sky holds a deep gray. The kind of gray that silences the world. It’s a gray that comforts me. A gray that mists water droplets into a blanket of cool. It’s a gray that I love. A gray that brings instant happiness. A gray I don’t want to leave.

Today reminds me of the last days of December 2020. They are days that I fall back to every gray, misty, fall day. They are the days I remember immense happiness. Naivety. They were also gray days as we prepared for the first of several winter storms to follow, culminating in my diagnosis. But, those days. I really loved those days.

I’ve since experienced happy days. And, those happy days ring differently. They are: I’m happy, and I’m limited in movements. I’m happy, and I worry about my future existence. I’m happy, and I remember living for survival only. Happy is permeated with “and,” “but.” Happy doesn’t stand on its own. Happy has caveats.

I think this is the part of breast cancer awareness that’s difficult to show. Because, if we showed it, we’d have to talk about more than pink. We’d have to talk about quality of life, metastatic breast cancer, research, funding, and the cost of cancer. But, we should. We absolutely need to talk about the “ands” and “buts.” They are part of the cancer experience.

Today, I’m happy to move my arms, and I’m deeply pained by my loss of mobility. By the loss of my daily walks. I’m happy to feel the gray. And, I’m longing to feel the soggy leaves beneath my feet as I explore. I’m happy and…

Let’s not pinkwash October. Let’s show and support all that there is to breast cancer.

10/01/2026

It’s October 1st, and it’s ! This is your monthly reminder to learn your normal. To do a breast Tit Check.

October is synonymous with pink. To raise awareness about breast cancer, and to make it less taboo, Pink-tober arose. And, in many ways, it has served an essential purpose: we know breast cancer exists.

That said, how we do pink and how we do cancer must evolve.

Pink has become a for-profit industry. Those whose intent is not to raise awareness have used it to pinkwash, or use pink as a way of making money. When buying pink this October, think before you pink. Does the organization support breast cancer or are they merely selling a pink product to sell a pink product. Breast cancer - and any cancer - can use all of the money its way as possible. So, if you’re going to pink, pink for a cause not a company.

We also need to evolve our breast cancer focus. Healthcare prices continue to skyrocket. Insurance premiums will rise again this January. Cancer is not cheap. It’s not cheap to research. To deliver care. To support care. And to receive care. Support people and causes who help reduce the cancer burden. With voting season on the horizon, question - do the candidates support the people and causes that reduce the price of healthcare? That make healthcare accessible? That advance healthcare for all?

This October, let’s take breast cancer awareness further.

Today, it is time to feel it on the First. To do a breast self exam. To report anything abnormal. It’s also time to share your story. Check out Know Your Lemons and go to https://fennewalds-fighters.square.site/ and download a free tutorial. Also, find great “pink” charities at Fennewald’s Fighters.

titcheck healthcarereform

09/20/2026

I'm doing lots of drowning my troubles with boba bubbles today. I had my knee MRI a few days ago, and I'm in limbo as I wait for next steps. While this isn't a life or death situation that it was five years ago, it's all too reminiscent. I just finished five years of major surgeries for cancer. Now, I'm looking at several more years of life altering surgeries. In the meantime, I'm saddled. The worst part of cancer treatment was the loss of independence. The loss of movement. The utter dependency. Those feelings are strong again.

So, today, I drown my troubles with a sweet treat. I know that I will adapt, but I hate that I have to... or anyone does.

09/17/2026

I'm on day 13 of testosterone therapy. Check out the Menopause and Cancer podcast episode #235 to learn more about it! https://open.spotify.com/episode/6KvLhGSH0HdOXBNsN4gfoT?si=qU1yGzypRVqTXe2cULCIRw&utm_source=copy-link

09/15/2026

Updates in the world of knee troubles. Lesson learned: take the surgery when offered.

09/14/2026

Today marks five years since I finished active treatment. Five years ago, I had just finished a grueling 10 months of surgeries, chemo, and radiation. And, while cancer treatment is not done - is it ever - five years ago I rang that bell to signify the end of that stage.

I’m not celebrating five years the way I had planned. In fact, this is the most “un-Christy-like” way of celebrating. I’m confined to a recliner and dependent upon other’s generosity. This is not my normal. This, too, is surviving.

This year of fives, I invested in myself. I got a formal autism diagnosis and appropriate accommodations. I started therapy to handle the grief and shame I carry with me daily. I advocated for and received testosterone therapy. I pushed for answers from doctors when I developed new symptoms. I started pelvic floor therapy again. I worked on my overall fitness. I focused on healing.

Cancer survivorship is not linear. Some years it is filled with ways to go out living. Other years, it is maintaining the status quo. And, some years, it is about healing.

This year will be about restoration. Not returning to life pre-cancer, but restoring the parts of me that have grown accustomed to a life of surviving.

So, today, when I’m confined, and incapacitated, and brought back to five years ago, I think of restoration.

Cheers to five years of this life after cancer treatment.

09/13/2026

Tomorrow I will honor 5 years since I finished active treatment for breast cancer. I had plans to celebrate - to enjoy the many things I couldn’t do during cancer treatment. I had plans to kayak, to hike, to take a solo trip across country in two weeks. But, those plans changed.

5 years ago, the idea of survival was just forming. I learned that freedom and independence can alter. I kept moving. I kept pushing forward. And, eventually, I reached the other side of treatment. But, I never stopped living in survival mode. I never stopped feeling like life was a thin thread. So, my body stayed on alert. My body lived in a constant state of survival - of fight or flight.

And, perhaps that’s why I continued to push through the daily pain I lived in.

At age 7, I felt my first knee pains. By 22, I had my first knee surgery, revealing bilateral bone-on-bone full cartilage loss, aka grade 4 arthritis. They performed a now outdated surgery - lateral release - to change the tracking of my knee. But with each year, I lost more ability with my knees. I’ve been told I’m both too young for bilateral knee replacement surgery and also in desperate need of it. Last fall, I had knee replacement surgery on the calendar. And, I canceled it. My body was done with surgeries after five years of living under the knife.

And, I chose to push through some more.

Last week, I felt a sharp pain in my knee while lifting my toes - yes, the most basic of tasks - and I found I couldn’t walk. I chose to push through - to go to work only to be sent home to rest. I tried it for a week until I could no longer stand.

Yesterday, I discovered that I have torn my MCL, torn my quadriceps muscle where it attaches to my non-existent patella, and have excessive fluid and blood in my knee. I will be crutches and wheelchair bound for the foreseeable future as I await my next steps.

To say I am heartbroken is an understatement.

Perhaps, this time, survivorship also means peace. I live for the outdoors and for independence. Survivorship looks different than it did 5 years ago. Today, it’s about giving my body grace while also learning that this moment is transitory.

09/03/2026

Guess who's starting testosterone therapy as a hormone positive breast cancer survivor? Me! Listen for more details.

09/01/2026

It’s September 1st, and it’s ! This is your monthly reminder to learn your normal. To do a breast Tit Check.

In 14 days, it will be 5 years since my last active treatment. Five years ago, I was told I would eventually find my new normal. Today, I reflect on this new version of me.

Five years ago, I had not experienced how quickly life could change. How quickly life could become just about survival - about getting out of bed, about getting through the next treatment, about breathing.

Cancer slows down life. It’s like a zoom lens that can only see a spec of time. And, for a long time after treatment ended, I was stuck in that zoom lens. I was stuck in a mode of survival.

Five years later, I’m preparing to take my first trip just for me, with just myself, in many years. It’s a version of me before cancer that feels foreign. But, this version of me is tired. This version of me does know that life can change with a phone call.

This new normal does exist, but it doesn’t forget cancer. Survivorship is not a day. It’s not a week. It’s a lifetime. And, each day is just a moment in this new normal that I call survivorship.

Survivorship evolves.

And, survivorship starts the moment cancer enters our lives.

Today, it is time to feel it on the First. To do a breast self exam. To report anything abnormal. It’s also time to share your story. Check out Know Your Lemons and go to https://fennewalds-fighters.square.site/ and download a free tutorial. Also, find great “pink” charities at Fennewald’s Fighters.

titcheck healthcarereform

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Leander, TX
78641

Website

https://tinyurl.com/yearcancer, http://fennewalds-fighters.square.site/, https://tinyurl.com/yearcancerbook

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