[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G. Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room.
[00:00:16] A breast cancer diagnosis may feel like it changes your entire life in an instant, but it doesn’t get to define who you are or make all the choices for you. On today’s episode of Real Pink, we’re joined by Amanda Sangemino, a remarkable young woman whose diagnosis came at an age when cancer was likely the last thing on her mind.
[00:00:37] What began with a concern that was initially dismissed ultimately led her to trust her instincts, advocate for herself, and make a series of personal decisions about her treatment and future. Throughout the process, she was determined not to let fear and cancer make every decision for her. Today, she’ll talk about the choices she made about fertility, surgical options, and maintaining an active lifestyle, and why trusting yourself can be one of the most powerful tools you have.
[00:01:06] Amanda, welcome to the show.
[00:01:08] Amanda Sangemino: Thanks, Adam. That was so nice. I’m so excited to get talking about all this.
[00:01:12] Adam Walker: Yeah I’m hap- I’m excited to hear your story. I know it it’s always really interesting to hear people and how they advocate for themselves. And so, so you were very young when you were first diagnosed, so let’s set the stage with that.
[00:01:25] Tell us how this all started.
[00:01:28] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah, absolutely. I was 33 when I got diagnosed, and kinda like you said in your intro, it was all over the place. It was not a black-and-white diagnosis. It was not cut and dry. What happened was in January of 2025, I found a lump in my left breast, and it felt like a frozen pea, and it was enough to scare the bejesus out of me.
[00:01:50] So you can imagine that day was absolutely ruined, and you’re terrified and I made an emergency appointment with my gynecologist the very next day You know, to have her see and what her recommendations were. Sure enough, she also thought it was worth getting it looked into a little bit more, so she wrote me a script for a mammogram, a 3D mammogram, and an ultrasound.
[00:02:12] So I have a number of radiologists that I trust and that I go to, but all of those people were booked until April. And when you’re in this terrified mode, that’s the last thing you want to hear. So I did everything in my power to get an appointment someplace like the very next day if I could, and sure enough, I did.
[00:02:32] Adam Walker: Wow. So
[00:02:33] Amanda Sangemino: I went in… I know, right? Well, when something is- I
[00:02:36] Adam Walker: love
[00:02:36] Amanda Sangemino: that … on my
[00:02:36] Adam Walker: mind- Yeah. I lo- I love that tenacity. Yeah. I go for it. Yeah. I go for
[00:02:39] it. Yep. Yep.
[00:02:40] Amanda Sangemino: It didn’t work out, though, in my favor, but I went and I got the three imagings done, and by the end of it, the radiologist came in and he spoke to me personally and he said, “Great news.
[00:02:52] You have nothing to worry about. This is a regular cyst. Come back at 40. Come back at your regular mammogram age of 40.”
[00:02:59] Adam Walker: Okay.
[00:03:00] Amanda Sangemino: So I’m riding high. You can imagine. Yeah. I was just terrified- Of course … for 48 days 48 days, 48 hours- and now this professional is telling me that I have nothing to worry about, that everything is good.
[00:03:13] So I’m on cloud nine and I come home, and you don’t think about the things yet of I don’t have to come back
[00:03:19] Adam Walker: in six months. I don’t have to come back in a year.” Right.
[00:03:22] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah. “We’re not going to biopsy this.” Right. None of that. But now it’s like kind of setting in where I’m just, I’m not too sure about this, and I even remember checking it myself the couple days after.
[00:03:34] But I was driving myself so insane that I stopped myself. I was like, “Amanda, you just got great news. Stop it. You’re looking for something that’s not there.” Right. Stop checking, right.
[00:03:45] Adam Walker: Yeah. So
[00:03:45] Amanda Sangemino: now weeks and months go by and people, especially women that I work with, would tell me their own personal stories of journeys they’ve been through, family members, and I would bring up my story and they would say to me just time and time again, “Amanda, you are your biggest advocate.”
[00:04:01] If you feel like something is wrong still, you really, you need to keep fighting. You need to keep looking into this.”
[00:04:08] Adam Walker: And- So this was, like this was months later there that you’re getting this advice? Yeah. Okay. So it was like still- But now it’s just- … so like still on your mind though, like for… Okay. Okay.
[00:04:15] Got
[00:04:15] Amanda Sangemino: it. Very much so. Yeah. Like still on my mind- Right … but I’m still not checking it because I don’t want to go crazy, but I’m thinking about it, right?
[00:04:20] Adam Walker: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That’s fair.
[00:04:22] Amanda Sangemino: And after hearing them now so many times, because even the first time they said it, and they’re so great because they were so persistent, these two women that I work with and at first I’m like, ” yeah.”
[00:04:31] But they said it enough where I’m like, shoot, like it’s obviously is still bothering me, like to your point.
[00:04:37] I need to get a second opinion here. So, and instead of calling a random doctor this time I went to a trusted doctor of mine already and asked for a recommendation, and he gave me the name and the number of an oncologist surgeon that was local to me.
[00:04:52] Made an appointment with the oncologist surgeon. Now the appointment’s like on Monday. It’s Friday. Right. And I’m like let me see what this is all about now. It’s been like eight months. I haven’t checked it. Let me just see. Well, it went from a frozen pea to a golf ball. All within that sh- very short amount of time.
[00:05:11] Yeah.
[00:05:12] Adam Walker: Oh, man.
[00:05:13] Amanda Sangemino: So again, terrified, freaking out. I meet the oncologist surgeon, and his first recommendation was actually an MRI. So- Right … I went, I got the MRI. A day later, the results came in, and the oncologist surgeon calls me and he says, “Prepare yourself. This looks like cancer. Not only does it look like cancer, but we also see that your lymph nodes in that same arm are swollen.”
[00:05:36] Oh. “So we think that it’s now invasive to your lymph nodes. We gotta get you in for a biopsy for the tumor and the lymph nodes to see what’s going on there.” And so he got me in the next day for those things, and sure enough, the next week he called me, and I was stage 2A ER positive- breast cancer, invasive to the lymph nodes, with a rapidly growing tumor.
[00:06:00] Adam Walker: Wow. Whew. That is quite the ride. So I hate to ask, but I have to. Do you think about what would’ve happened if you’d lis- if you, or if you’d even listened to that first profe- or if things had gone differently? Like how do you think through that?
[00:06:17] Amanda Sangemino: Oh my gosh. I think about it all the time. Yeah. And I know my parents think about it all the time. Yeah. because it’s terrifying. Yeah. It’s absolutely terrifying to think that if I listened to the medical professional-
[00:06:26] Adam Walker: Right. Yeah …
[00:06:27] Amanda Sangemino: I could’ve been in a very scarier instance than like where I am now, and I’m talking like a much later stage, and probably metastatic at that point.
[00:06:36] Yeah. I mean, my tumor was rapidly growing. Right. And he wanted me to wait seven years. Like again, it wasn’t even six months or a year. It was, “Wait until you’re 40.” Oof. It’s just, it’s crazy to me. It’s absolutely crazy to me.
[00:06:48] Adam Walker: And remind me what was the time horizon between like when you went to that first imaging and like when it was a golf ball size?
[00:06:53] Like how many months was that?
[00:06:55] Amanda Sangemino: So that was from January to September, October. Okay. So we’re talking like nine months-ish.
[00:07:00] Adam Walker: Yeah. Wow. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay. So all right, so which I guess brings me to my next question. What do you want young women to know about advocating for yourselves for themselves, and what have you learned like kind of through all this?
[00:07:15] Amanda Sangemino: Oh my gosh. What I’ve learned is like- We are our biggest advocates- and we are our biggest fighters. Especially- as young women I think a lot of people may diminish us because we’re inexperienced to any of this, and we don’t really have the knowledge. So when a medical professional tells you something, you just kind of naturally want to believe in what they’re telling you.
[00:07:38] Right … but we’re the only ones fighting for ourselves. We need to be our biggest advocate. So if you feel like something is wrong and s- something is still not right, you need to keep fighting. Because what I’ve learned throughout all of this, is not only could something like what happened to me, where you get misdi- diagnosed and something still doesn’t feel right could happen-
[00:07:59] Adam Walker: Right
[00:07:59] Amanda Sangemino: but my best friend, she, after seeing everything I went through, she went to her gyno to get a mammogram and just make sure things were good, right? I’m a good influence. My friends now are making sure- Indeed … they’re proactive.
[00:08:12] Adam Walker: Yeah, of course.
[00:08:12] Amanda Sangemino: Gyno gets her a script to get a mammo.
[00:08:15] She goes to an imaging center, and they deny her service They deny her service because she was younger than 40, and even with the script, even with the insurance saying We’ll pay for it as long as there’s a script there,” which she had, they literally denied her service saying there was no reason for her to be there.
[00:08:34] There was no family history. She’s under 40, and all these excuses. But what did she do? She fought and she fought. She called the higher-ups. She’s, she, she- Yeah … made sure not to just take it, which is- Yeah … What the theme is here. You can’t just take… That’s crazy.
[00:08:51] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Amanda Sangemino: And she talked to enough people then who finally got her in. She had to wait a whole weekend and talk to so many managers, but they finally got her in, and it’s just why are we fighting like this?
[00:09:01] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:09:01] Amanda Sangemino: But we have to, and that’s what I want other females… Because otherwise, you could have had the other situation where I did wait the seven years- and now we get the bad outcome, yeah. I mean, th- that would’ve been scary, honestly, and very very… I’m… It’s very fortunate that you didn’t… It’s good that you just followed your your instinct yeah, I g- I guess, I- I mean, it goes to show you that when things just kind of eat at you sometimes maybe that’s for a good reason, so.
[00:09:27] It’s for a reason. Yeah. And I just was so lucky to have those two women in my group to really push me. And so other women who may not have that fortunate their peers telling them that I want to be that person to tell them if something doesn’t feel right-
[00:09:41] Adam Walker: Yeah
[00:09:42] Amanda Sangemino: you need to continue to get it sought after, and you need to keep fighting for yourself.
[00:09:46] Adam Walker: That’s right. That’s right, yeah. All right, so so let’s talk a little bit about your decisions. You made a lot of decisions along the way and they’ve been made kind of in this spirit of you don’t want cancer to take all of your choices away from you, which- Yep
[00:10:00] which we’re, we’re going to get to in just a minute. But there was one choice that was sort of out of your control based on your specific type of breast cancer. So talk to me about put, being put into early menopause and what that’s been like both physically and emotionally for you.
[00:10:15] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah, I certainly have a newfound respect for women going through perimenopause and menopause because it ain’t fun.
[00:10:21] The hot flashes are crazy. Oh. And the sweat mustaches that I get from them that’s my g- dead giveaway that I’m having one.
[00:10:29] Adam Walker: Oh.
[00:10:30] Amanda Sangemino: But it’s… Honestly, actually being pushed into this perimenopause has been one of the hardest parts because as you’re saying I will not let this affect me.
[00:10:39] I’m still- who I am before this.
[00:10:43] However, my body kinda feels like it’s 80 years old now. Oh. And yeah outside of the obvious things like not having a period anymore or these hot flashes, there’s all these other variables that kinda come with it that you don’t realize. My joints literally feel like I’m 80.
[00:11:00] It’s because estrogen is a natural lubricant for your joints, right? Right. That’s why older women may suffer from feeling their bodies and how that hurts them, and I’m kinda going through that, too.
[00:11:11] Adam Walker: Oh.
[00:11:12] Amanda Sangemino: So that part kinda stinks because my whole thing has been, like, I’m not going to let this stop me, and I’m not.
[00:11:17] But it’s just it’s an extra layer on top of the things that you’re already dealing with that you have to also think about and kind of- cope with, and I’m doing what I can to not feel like I’m 80 years old.
[00:11:30] Adam Walker: That’s fair. That’s fair. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that’s fair. Well, all right, so, so now let’s talk about the choices that you did make.
[00:11:36] So I understand that you quickly went through the IVF process prior to starting treatment. Yeah. Was that something you advocated for, or was that an idea that your healthcare team brought to you, and what were your feelings about having to make a decision like that so quickly?
[00:11:52] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah. I was super lucky because my healthcare team brought this to me.
[00:11:56] Right when the oncologist told me that she was going to put me on an estrogen blocker, which put your ovaries to sleep, she said that there really isn’t any big sort of chance that- anything is damaged where you wouldn’t be able to have kids, or after chemo that’s not supposed to happen.
[00:12:12] However, there are these instances where maybe your ovaries won’t wake up or- the chemo does affect your ability to have kids. Okay. And because of that IVF is an option. So I remember literally having no time to decide on that. They wanted to start me with chemo within two weeks. Before chemo you have to get a port surgery- so it’s like, how does IVF fit in there?
[00:12:35] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:12:35] Amanda Sangemino: But what I knew for sure was that I was not going to a- let cancer make the decision of having kids for me.
[00:12:43] Adam Walker: That’s right.
[00:12:43] Amanda Sangemino: And- That’s right. Yeah … I’m not in a place where having kids was even a thought of mine. I’m single, I’m young it’s trying to figure life out to begin with.
[00:12:52] But the last thing that I was going to even allow was cancer to take having kids from me. So- Yeah … I decided to go through with IVF because if, God forbid my ovaries didn’t wake up or I was, like, that small percentage, at least I still have the option later in life to say, “No, I want kids, and this, this isn’t going to affect that.”
[00:13:12] Adam Walker: Yeah. Wow. That’s such… I mean, so you had to make that decision really fast too, right?
[00:13:18] Amanda Sangemino: So, so fast, and it’s crazy because I remember the first night you’re shooting your belly with all these things. I remember being like, “I don’t even know what I’m shooting myself up with right now.”
[00:13:27] It’s like there was just no time. But I know I made the right decision because-
[00:13:32] Adam Walker: Yeah …
[00:13:33] Amanda Sangemino: That’s a huge decision, and I’m- Yeah … not going to let cancer take that away from me. That’s crazy.
[00:13:39] Adam Walker: I would imagine there’s this, th- this level of focus that you probably get when… Because I feel the decision for IVF, if, without, with there, when there are not extenuating circumstances might be something that takes you some, most people a long time to do, right?
[00:13:54] Yes. And I think reasonably so. But I would imagine that cancer diagnosis just focuses you, and you just kn- is it, was that how it was? Like, did you just kinda you just sorta knew?
[00:14:05] Amanda Sangemino: Completely. It’s like you have this tunnel vision, and you just start to realize everything that matters in your life.
[00:14:11] And for me, it was making these decisions as if I was healthy, right? Right. And also just my lifestyle. I just, I knew what was so important to me, and that was maintaining the life that I had. Yeah. And I just I did not want anything to take that away. So to your point, it was just like, “If you want to do IVF, you gotta say it now, because we gotta start tomorrow.”
[00:14:33] And I didn’t want to shoot myself up each night- Yeah … in my belly, but- Yeah … This is what we gotta do, so this is exactly what we will do.
[00:14:43] Adam Walker: Yeah, you gotta do, you gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah. You got it. I, so, so for another difficult decision, talk to us about why you opted for a single mastectomy versus doing the double mastectomy.
[00:14:54] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah, so that was in the same vein, it was like in chemo, my next step was going to be surgery- Mm-hmm … and the question came up if I wanted to do the unilateral versus the bilateral.
[00:15:03] And I know a lot of females are, their quick instinct is just to go bilateral, because they never want to think about this again, right?
[00:15:10] Yeah. The odds of relapsing, or just the imaging that you’re going to have to do, like the MRIs every six months. No one really wants to do that, right? And I get that. I totally get that.
[00:15:19] Adam Walker: Right.
[00:15:20] Amanda Sangemino: For me, I wasn’t going to let just the fear of it happening again or, you know, what I was going to feel like getting the MRI after all this was done, I wasn’t going to let that fear dictate my decisions.
[00:15:32] And just like with having kids, what if I want to breastfeed? Like, I’m just going to now chop both of these guys off and, one, not be able to feel anything forever, two, have a part of me that isn’t a part of me anymore-
[00:15:47] And then three, now not be able to connect with my child when the time came- to have a child. And I don’t even know if I want to breastfeed. I got lots of friends who don’t breastfeed because it’s hard- Sure … and it’s not right- Yeah … for everybody, right?
[00:16:00] Adam Walker: Yeah. But that doesn’t matter. I want to make- You wanted the option … that decision. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. I get that.
[00:16:04] Amanda Sangemino: Let me have my kid and see if it works for me, and if it does, what a blessing. But if not, that’s okay, too. But at least I decided without this just being like, “Oh, cancer took that away from me, too.”
[00:16:15] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:16:15] Amanda Sangemino: Absolutely not. I
[00:16:17] Adam Walker: f- I feel like I’m seeing a thread here where- Yeah … You’re like, “Cancer is not going to limit my options, and so I’m going to do this so that I have the options that I can choose from at the time when I’m ready to choose them,” right?
[00:16:30] Amanda Sangemino: No, truly. You said it- Yeah … so spot on, and it wasn’t even options, but it was just my lifestyle. I wasn’t- Yeah … going to now just be this, like, woe is me cancer person. I refuse- to do that and I’m grateful that I’m even able to have these choices and decisions like the IVF utero- Yeah
[00:16:46] unilateral versus bilateral. I know o- some people may not even have those options, but I did, and I’m just… I’m really grateful that I was able to make the choice to not let cancer make these decisions- for me.
[00:16:58] Adam Walker: Yeah. I think that’s great. I love that. All right. So I also understand that you chose to continue work and exercise through treatment, which is, superhuman.
[00:17:12] So- Thank you … Why was that so important and what was that experience like?
[00:17:17] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah. Well, again, continuing our theme. It’s so funny because, like, when you tell people about your diagnosis, a lot of people’s natural reaction is kind of to be like, “Well, you’re never going to be the same person ever again.”
[00:17:29] And they mean it in this endearing way. They mean it in, like, you’re going to be stronger, you’re going to have this more- Okay … experience, right? Yeah. Right. Like, you’re going to come out of this better. You’ll never be the same. That’s always how they say it, right?
[00:17:39] Adam Walker: Sure. Sure.
[00:17:40] Amanda Sangemino: But I hated hearing that. Like- Yeah
[00:17:42] I couldn’t stand it because- Yeah … I really loved who I was before all this, right. And I was like, ” I don’t want to lose that person.” I’m really hardworking. I just started this new role, and I was, like, trying to get promotions left and right. I’m super active. I was running 5Ks twice a week and kickboxing.
[00:18:02] All, I just I was doing all the things, right? And now all these people are telling me, like, “Oh yeah, you’re going to be different.” Yeah. And I said hard no I’m not. So what did that mean? That meant that I was going to continue working throughout all of chemo and throughout all of my treatments you know- until surgery where I had to stay home for a little bit- Right … and then I got back, right?
[00:18:23] Adam Walker: Right.
[00:18:24] Amanda Sangemino: And I worked out as much as I could too. I kicked boxed throughout all of chemo. It probably didn’t look pretty. I d- I certainly don’t think I was leaving much of a dent on the bag. But I was doing something and I was showing up for me.
[00:18:38] Yeah. And it, it was really healthy and it was, like, really cathartic for me actually- both of them, working and working out.
[00:18:47] Adam Walker: kickboxing through chemo. There’s something there. I don’t know what it is, but I like it, so-
[00:18:50] Amanda Sangemino: Oh my God … No, and let me tell you something. When you’re frustrated because you’re like, “What is this?”
[00:18:55] Punching the bag, it really, it helps. I promise you that.
[00:18:58] Adam Walker: There, there is a catharsis to punching a bag. That is for sure. Yeah. There’s no doubt. Yeah. It’s
[00:19:03] Amanda Sangemino: fantastic.
[00:19:03] Adam Walker: Yeah. That’s right. Yeah. All right. So so you seem fiercely independent. Thank you … but with that in mind, tell us what your support team looked like, both your health- both on the healthcare side and on the personal side.
[00:19:17] And as you as you were advocating to make the best choices, I mean, did you feel supported? And h- who was there that sort of helped you guide that process?
[00:19:26] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah. No, and you know what? Like I, and thank you so much for the compliment because I really do pride myself on being super independent, but I couldn’t have done this without the just s- immense support around me, both from a healthcare perspective and a personal pers- perspective.
[00:19:41] I live in Jersey, and there’s a million and a half incredible doctors all around here. And I’m a stone’s throw away from the biggest cancer facilities the best cancer facilities that I even had consultations with when this all first started happening. But it’s funny, I didn’t go with any of them, and I went with a local hospital, but that was because I knew the type of care that I needed.
[00:20:03] And I needed to feel seen and heard and cared for. And I knew that… Well, one, I already started this journey with that oncologist surgeon who, in my opinion, saved my life, right? Yeah. So that was already- Yeah. I already felt seen there-
[00:20:18] Adam Walker: Yeah …
[00:20:19] Amanda Sangemino: finally.
[00:20:20] Adam Walker: For sure.
[00:20:20] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah. And he recommended this oncologist he worked with to me, and the first time I met her, and she was going through the treatment plan, and obviously everything is so scary.
[00:20:29] I’m- I’m crying. My dad’s with me, and he’s crying. And I just thanked her afterwards, and she looked at me, and she got really close, and she put her hands around my face, and she said, “I work for you now. We are going to get through this. It is my job to make sure that you come out of this cancer-free and that you’re never going to have to go through this again.”
[00:20:48] And she gave me her personal cell phone number that I have called multiple times. I swear to God I’ve called this oncologist many times, and she has answered every single time, and she has helped me throughout this whole thing. And that is what I needed for my treatment. Yeah. I didn’t want to feel like I was in a factory, you know- Yeah
[00:21:06] like at any of these other- facilities. I needed to feel seen and cared for, and I did. And so between the surgeon and the oncologist, even my nurse navigator my social worker who’s assigned to you when you’re going through all of this- Yeah … they all made everything so easy, and I just felt so cared for.
[00:21:25] I’m really grateful for that because I, I don’t know if that’s other people’s experiences, but it really was mine. And then from a personal standpoint, oh my God, my family, my friends, I had somebody at every chemo with me a different girlfriend, a different family member. Yeah. I never felt alone, every appointment.
[00:21:45] And I’m sure as you can tell I’m someone who wears everything on my sleeve.
[00:21:49] Yeah. So even- It’s great … At my work, my boss, my team, everybody knew obviously what was happening.
[00:21:56] But because of that, it felt like I could let go of some of that burden, they knew why I was showing up to work at not 100%, and they were there for me in just ways that I needed.
[00:22:07] Adam Walker: Wow.
[00:22:07] Amanda Sangemino: And so I had an army behind me. I had a true army behind me, and it gave me fuel every time I felt like I was just running on E. Somebody would send me a great text message or show up at my house and take care of me, and it just kept me going, and it was just everything that I needed, and I’m…
[00:22:28] They’re, they are the reason why this whole thing was as s- as successful as, you know- Oh … it turned out to be.
[00:22:34] Adam Walker: I love that. I love… They sound amazing. That’s an amazing community, and that oncologist, oh man, home run right there. Wow. I know. I mean, phew. Like,
[00:22:40] Amanda Sangemino: how lucky am I? That’s crazy. Yeah. And
[00:22:42] Adam Walker: she’s
[00:22:43] Amanda Sangemino: just the best.
[00:22:43] I literally look forward to seeing her, which, Yeah … again, I don’t think many- How could you not- Yeah … with somebody that’s really that’s that oh my gosh, that was just, phew, that was amazing. I love that.
[00:22:53] I know. She makes you feel like you’re the only patient. And it’s funny, though, because, like, I’ll see her waiting room and it’s boy, am I not the only patient here.
[00:22:59] But- Yeah … every single time it’s wow you you’re only taking care of me. Yeah. It’s what it feels like.
[00:23:05] Adam Walker: Those kind of people are rare and special, so
[00:23:08] Amanda Sangemino: that’s- I know … one. I agree with you. That’s amazing.
[00:23:09] Adam Walker: Yeah. All right, so, so last question. You bring so much resilience and positivity to the discussion.
[00:23:18] Do you have any final advice for people that are listening to your story and, I mean, what do you want them to take away from this conversation?
[00:23:26] Amanda Sangemino: Yeah. I think two, my two biggest things are, like, number one, you are your biggest advocate. You are the one fighting for s- yourself.
[00:23:34] Yeah. Never forget that, and just keep fighting and keep being your biggest advocate. That’s definitely, the number one thing, because no one else is going to do it for you. But the other one, too, is that this doesn’t, if you’re a cancer patient like myself, this doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.
[00:23:49] Yeah. It’s all about your mindset, and if you just stay positive, you stay moving, you stay true to who you were before this, then you will continue to be who you are after this, but maybe just a little bit leveled up.
[00:24:03] Adam Walker: I like that, a little bit leveled up. Okay. I can see it. A little bit. I can see it.
[00:24:06] But
[00:24:06] Amanda Sangemino: you’re still- I can see it. Yeah … who you were before all of
[00:24:08] Adam Walker: this. That’s right. That’s right. You haven’t lost yourself, but you are for sure leveled up, and I like that a lot. Okay.
[00:24:13] Amanda Sangemino: Thank you.
[00:24:14] Adam Walker: All right. Well, Amanda your story is inspiring. Your, Your perspective is really encouraging and inspiring, and I just, I really appreciate you joining us on the show today.
[00:24:25] Amanda Sangemino: Oh my God. Well, thank you so much for sharing my story. This was so great to talk to you. Thank you so much.
[00:24:30] Adam Walker: Yeah, we’ll have to do it again, for sure.
[00:24:32] Amanda Sangemino: Absolutely.
[00:24:34] Adam Walker: Thanks for listening to Real Pink, a weekly podcast by Susan G. Komen. For more episodes, visit realpink.komen.org, and for more on breast cancer, visit komen.org.
[00:24:43] Make sure to check out @SusanGKomen on social media. I’m your host, Adam. You can find me on Twitter @AJWalker or on my blog, adamjwalker.com.