#37 MEET MEG RADDE HER 2 POSITIVE BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR - MEG WERNER

Published: Jan. 6, 2020, 8 p.m.

Meg is 33 years old and was born and raised in South Bend Indiana. She is the mother to an eight year old boy named Ethan. At the age of twenty- nine, summer of 2015, when Ethan was 4, she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, specifically HER2 positive. Her own hormones were fueling my cancer. I was in complete shock with my diagnosis; and while going through a divorce at the time, she remembers looking at her mom and saying, "I thought I was going to catch a break". Meg was a barre personal trainer, and in the best shape of my life. How could this happen to her? Meg is part of only five percent of women who get diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of forty. Little did cancer know, sje never goes down without a fight! She successfully endured six rounds of the "trifecta", or the "red devil", eleven rounds of Herceptin, a bilateral mastectomy, reconstruction and removal of my ovaries and tubes. One of her implants ruptured less than two years after surgery. resulting in more surgeries. Meg is very thankful to be alive! Life has been very trying for the last 5 years, however, she continues to stay positive, because that is truly the best way to be! Besides being a cancer survivor, Meg is also adopted. She was adopted by her parents at three weeks of age. Meg also have a sister who is adopted and five years younger. She has always wanted to find my birthmother since she was a little girl. I was and film for the show. They ended up finding my birthmother through a match with a DNA kit from Ancestry.com. The show helped answer a lifetime of unanswered questions. I felt as though I found the missing puzzle piece to my puzzle. I am so happy to be able to say that my birthmother and I are creating a friendship and bond that feels like never went away despite my separation with her at birth.