Jamie Williams has been through a lot this year. At the young age of 36, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.
"I've come to accept it, and embrace it and learn to live with it," she said.
Jamie wasn't even old enough to have a mammogram when she noticed something wasn't quite right with her body. She lobbied her doctors for the screening.
In February, a series of tests at the cancer center confirmed there was something. In one day, she had a mammogram and an ultrasound and by the time she left, she learned she likely had breast cancer.
"Your whole world kind of comes crashing down," Jamie said. "You feel like your life is going to end because you don't know what's going on. It's really scary."
Her husband of 18 years, John, was quickly by her side but she couldn't bring herself to tell her two daughters.
"My husband did. I didn't have the words," she said.
After the news sunk in, she and her family rallied. Jamie had a double mastectomy and 17 lymph nodes removed, but it wasn't always easy.
"Everybody is going to have their ups and downs and there's a time to cry," she said. "And that's hard to realize sometimes, but there's a time to cry."
It's been an unforgettable year. All she has left are infusion treatments in hopes of preventing a recurrence.
With a smile that lights up the room, Jamie already has her signs set on the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Sunday, Oct. 23. She didn't ask to join this cancer club, but she's in it to win it.
"Never give up. I'm not going down without a fight," she said.
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