We’re getting closer to a big event this weekend to raise money to fight breast cancer. On Sunday, October 7, the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk steps out at PNG Field in Altoona.

This year, Jill Lasek from Duncansville is the woman in the spotlight, serving as the Ambassador for this year’s walk. She’s fought breast cancer, not once, but twice.

Jill  had her first mammogram in 2005 at the age of 39, after finding a lump in her breast..

“It took me a week before I called, though, because I wasn’t sure. I’m like no it can’t be. You don’t want to believe it’s anything and I  thought it would go away,” she says.
Her daughter, Jennifer,  was only 2 years old.

Fortunately, Jill beat the disease and was cancer-free for seven years.  Then, it came back in a couple of lymph nodes.

The second time I had cancer was in 2013, ” Jill remembers. My daughter was 10 at the time, so she understood it more then, where she didn’t she didn’t understand it the first time, being 2.”

Jennifer was also old enough to join her mother in the wider battle against breast cancer, taking part in walks and other events. After, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, Jill again became cancer-free and still is.

Her main concern now is the breast cancer risk to her daughter….

“That’s the main reason why I walk,” she says, adding, “I don’t want her to have to go what I went through and a lot of other women are going through right now. I want to make sure that she’s safe and they find a cure before she ever has to deal with anything like this.”

Jill has a couple of points she wants to share with women—make sure you get your regular mammograms, and that you do self-breast exams.