It's hard for me to even write this, but I haven't washed my hair in a little over six months. 

It all started June 5th, 2015, when Craig and I were sitting in a London hospital awaiting my test results. I should have known something was wrong when they told me to bring someone with me to the follow-up, but as a healthy 29-year old, I never suspected anything serious. 

My memory of the evening is a bit blurry from the shock of it all, but there are certain parts I recall so clearly. 

Breast Cancer. Triple negative. Grade 3. Aggressive...

A week later, we packed up our things and headed for Boston where we'd stay with my parents for the duration of my treatment at Dana Farber. 

Just as I'd been warned, my hair began to fall out shortly after my second session of chemotherapy.  Upon seeing an entire clump wash through my hands in the shower, I made an appointment to donate the rest before it was all gone. It wasn't long before I was leaving the salon, and walking out onto Newbury Street completely bald. 

And, that, my friends, is how to go six months without washing your hair!

So, why am I telling you this?

I'm telling you because I don't want another woman to know what it feels like to miss her own hair in the shower. I'm telling you because you have a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a wife, a sister, a cousin, a daughter or niece who could be at risk.

But, with your help, we can erase that risk.  

This July I'll be walking 39 miles around Boston with the same group of girls that have, since our freshman year at Notre Dame Academy, felt like my very own sisters. We're participating in the AVON 39 to raise money for breast cancer research. 

I was lucky enough to have had a complete pathological response to my treatment, but that outcome is not guaranteed for everyone. With funding for more research into this disease, we can make sure it's not a part of our future. We can make sure it's not a part of anyone's future. 

So, if you love a woman (Any woman! Even if it's just one woman!) here's what you can do:

1.) Ask her to follow the below guide for monthly exams she can perform on her own, and pretty much wherever she chooses! Except in public, of course.

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/self_exam/bse_steps

2.) Click the pink "donate now" button to give to the cause! Contributions from people like you are what created the medical advancements that saved my life.

Because of the developments in breast cancer research, I have so much to look forward to, and after the fundraiser is over, even more walking to do. I'll soon be walking down the aisle of a plane to return to our flat in London, and Craig will see me walk down the aisle on our wedding day in the summer of 2017. But before that, I'm going to make a stop by the shampoo aisle at the store. It's been long enough, and now that my hair is beginning to grow back, I can't wait to give it a good wash.

Let's put an end to the need for breast cancer fundraisers by putting an end to breast cancer. 

With love and so much gratitude,

Lisa