In 2015, two weeks after undergoing a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy, I founded BRCAStrong. My daughter, Gabriela, who was just seven years old at the time, lovingly compared me to a butterfly, symbolizing the different phases of life I was navigating. Her comparison resonated deeply, and it became the inspiration for our organization’s mission of transformation and resilience.

July 16, 2004, is a date forever etched in my memory. It was the day I discovered that I carried the BRCA2 mutation,