Deb Kirkland

On December 20, 2001 at the age of 32, I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer. Having no family history, being under the age of 40, and even with the knowledge of breast cancer formerly as a critical care nurse, I never imagined that I was at risk. The truth is, 85% of new cases have no family history, and 11,000 women in the United States under 40 are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Due to the lack of resources in the community available to young women at the time, I created grassroots networking for women my age affected by breast cancer in the Baltimore metropolitan area after enduring multiple surgeries and chemotherapy. Shortly after, I worked with LifeBridge Health, and
received Komen for the Cure funding from our local affiliate to fund "Breast Friends." I am the program coordinator for this grant, providing services to young women who are affected by this disease, a growing under-served population of women in need. As part of my job, I also provide education and outreach to young women's groups and African American inner city women to create awareness, teaching the importance of early detection and screening. Younger women and African American women tend to have a lower incidence, yet a higher mortality rate for this disease. One of the many organizations I volunteer with is Susan G. Komen for the Cure, locally as a grantee, and symposium planning committee member, and nationally as a Komen Advocate Reviewer for National Research grants, as well as being a delegate this past year for the Komen Global Summit in Budapest, Hungary. Although I very passionate as a breast cancer advocate and have accomplished a great deal since my diagnosis, my greatest accomplishment in life by far is being the mother of my 2 sons, Ben (11) and Max (8), who were only 2 & 4 when this journey began.