{"id":231311,"date":"2025-06-02T13:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=231311"},"modified":"2025-06-02T13:15:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:15:19","slug":"celebrating-survivorship-triumph-over-breast-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/06\/celebrating-survivorship-triumph-over-breast-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Survivorship: Triumph Over Breast Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a quiet winter afternoon, January 4, 2024, one Kim Thacker remembers with remarkable clarity. Sitting in an armchair in her living room, she had left work early, feeling more tired than usual. At 3 p.m., her phone rang. It was her radiologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was expecting a call at some point,\u201d Thacker recalls, \u201cbut nothing prepares you for hearing the word cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had undergone a series of breast biopsies the previous week, but the official diagnosis, invasive lobular carcinoma, hit like a wave she could hardly absorb. \u201cIt took months to process it,\u201d she says. \u201cIn many ways, I\u2019m still processing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kim
Kim Thacker is positive starting her first chemotheraphy treatment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Within days of that life-changing call, Thacker and her husband sat face-to-face with her care team at UConn Health. They walked through every detail of her diagnosis, translating the language of her scans into something human, something understandable. That clarity, she says, was essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy only symptom was fatigue,\u201d Thacker shares. \u201cI had no lumps, nothing visible or palpable. It turns out that\u2019s typical for my cancer type, which grows in strands rather than forming a mass. If I hadn\u2019t gone in for my routine mammogram, it might have gone undetected for a long time.<\/p>\n

At just 42 years old, this was only Thacker\u2019s second mammogram. That screening likely saved her life.<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, Thacker felt she was in good hands at UConn Health\u2019s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center<\/a>. Her team included breast surgeon Dr. Rene Relos, radiologist Dr. Robert Dowsett, clinical psychologist, Dr. Judith Cooney, and oncologist Dr. Yueming Chang, along with a dedicated group of nurses and technicians who would walk alongside her every step.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe care I\u2019ve received at UConn Health has been incredible,\u201d she says. \u201cEven though they see dozens of patients each day, they always make me feel like I\u2019m the most important one in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kim
Kim and infusion nurse Shaily De La Cruz Delgado on her last day of treatment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That sense of personal attention was a lifeline, especially during chemotherapy. Kim remembers one nurse in particular with gratitude and affection, infusion nurse, Shaily De La Cruz Delgado.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never forget Shaily, my chemo nurse. Her kindness and positivity carried me through some of the hardest days.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Working with Kim was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had,” says De La Cruz Delgado. “Her sensitivity and positive demeaner made her experience a positive one. I enjoyed our conversations about her life outside of the infusion room and how eager she was to get back to her normal life as a wife, mom and teacher.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Thacker\u2019s treatment was intensive: a bilateral complete mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy, radiation, and now ongoing care that includes regular injections and a daily medication regimen. Today, her bloodwork shows no signs of cancer.<\/p>\n

She considers herself to be in the early \u201csurvivor\u201d stage, grateful, cautious, and grounded in a new perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife has changed in every way,\u201d she says. \u201cMy priorities have shifted. I try to live each day with deep joy in my heart and not worry so much about the future. Life is unpredictable for all of us.”<\/p>\n

\u201cKim did an incredible job navigating the challenges of an unexpected and life-changing cancer diagnosis,\u201d says Cooney. \u201cThrough individual and group health psychology sessions, she learned effective strategies to manage physical, emotional, and cognitive distress\u2014such as relaxation techniques, reframing negative thoughts, exercise, spirituality, support, and mindfulness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following treatment, Thacker not only returned to work but reconnected more deeply with her family and the activities that reflect her values. Her dedication led to more than just coping; she discovered strength, resilience, and gratitude, transforming her experience into one of personal growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy shifting her focus from anxiety to meaning, Kim deepened her relationships, with her husband, children, and the supportive communities around her, including their church, workplace, and extended family across the country,\u201d says. Cooney.<\/p>\n

For those just beginning their cancer journey, Thacker offers her heart and hard-won wisdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be very hard days,\u201d she says. \u201cBut they won\u2019t last forever. Joy will return, deeper, richer than before, because your perspective will have changed. You are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also found space for humor, even in the strangest moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say the oddest things when they\u2019re trying to be supportive,\u201d she laughs. \u201cSomeone once told me, \u2018I understand how hard breast cancer is, because my grandma died from it.\u2019 At the time, it stung. Now, I try to see it for what it is, an awkward attempt at connection. And honestly some of it is just funny now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Thacker is focused on healing, not just her body, but her life. She continues to receive care at UConn Health, surrounded by a team that empowers her every step of the way. “I am so thankful for my care team,\u201d she says<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At just 42 years old, Kim\u2019s only symptom was fatigue. What followed was a diagnosis that would change everything and a journey that would reveal her strength, resilience, and hope. As we honor National Cancer Survivor Month, Kim shares her story of survivorship, the care team that stood by her side, and the life-changing impact of early detection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":231316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2209],"class_list":["post-231311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 23:10:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231311"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231376,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231311\/revisions\/231376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/231316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231311"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=231311"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=231311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}