"I never asked why me?" Pittsburgh woman's work helps to change the lives of those battling cancer
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Saturday, October 20th is the 14th Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event at Acrisure Stadium.
It's where more than a thousand breast cancer survivors, families, and supporters will join to walk and raise awareness about a disease that impacts tens of thousands of women every year in the United States.
For one woman, cancer changed her life years before her diagnosis.
Amy Fuller often gave her time, energy, and money to the American Cancer Society. She has hugged countless survivors, listened to stories from people recently diagnosed, and even helped start a Relay for Life walk in Cranberry.
"It just became something that I was really passionate about, and I really believed in what the American Cancer Society did through their programs, their research," said Amy Fuller, American Cancer Society volunteer and survivor.
All of this, not knowing that one day she would hear those three words - "You have cancer."
"I can picture my calendar, January 29th, 2021. And at that point, they pulled me back, and they said we needed to do a needle biopsy. And of course, my heart starts racing, my mind is spinning," said Fuller.
Doctors told her it was a type of carcinoma, stage zero. She would need surgery, radiation, and a pill.
Amy thought it would be easy. Get the surgery—recover—move on. That was the case until doctors found something else after her operation.
"We also found triple negative, which is very unusual to have found a second type of cancer in there," said Fuller.
As you can imagine it was a life-changing moment for Amy, she needed chemo. This led her to resort back to everything she learned from cancer patients when she was a volunteer, and that is to lean heavily on those you love for support and have faith.
She also had her husband Jeff and two kids, Jordan and Mackenzie. They would travel with her to her chemo appointments, and walk with her at events and they even shaved their head when she started to lose her hair.
It was that support that carried her through to the end of November 2021, when she completed her treatments.
"I feel blessed. I really feel very blessed to be where I am today. I never asked why me, I've only asked, what can I do with it?"