‘Know your normal’: NC woman diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at 28, her empowering message of survival
By Audrey Biesk
Click here for updates on this story
NORTH CAROLINA (WXII) — In 2025, more than 300,000 women will hear for the first time the words, “You have breast cancer,” according to the American Cancer Society.
A North Carolina woman received that diagnosis at the young age of 28, forever changing her life.
Lorelei Colbert is a military spouse and needed a health exam to move abroad. In that exam, a lump was found in her breast, and she was diagnosed with stage 2B triple-negative breast cancer.
“That was five years ago. I had eight rounds of chemo, bilateral mastectomy the day after my 29th b-day, and reconstruction,” Colbert said. “I had four rounds of Lupron, which are shots, hoping one day I could have a family. A few years later, I had my miracle baby post-cancer.”
Ever since, Colbert has been on a journey of hope.
“I feel very grateful to be celebrating five years since diagnosis as a mom, a survivor and as a woman,” she said. Colbert has learned what it means to advocate for her health. “Breast cancer doesn’t discriminate on age, especially when I was 28 and doctors didn’t want to believe it was breast cancer.”
She hopes to empower others to stand up for themselves, too. “Especially for young women to know your normal.”
Colbert said the words, ‘on to live,’ is a mantra she lives by.
“It’s not saying every day is perfect, it’s saying that you have the courage to take one step forward and try again,” she said.
That mantra has inspired her platform and business. With each purchase, she gives back to triple-negative breast cancer research and local organizations, including the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.
Colbert remembers her dear friend, Lynn, who was a top fundraiser she now calls her angel.
“Lynn was facing her third diagnosis. We weren’t sure what the future held, and I’ve learned through this journey what it means to be here, what it means to celebrate your people while they are here,” Colbert said. “I told Lynn, ‘What if we get a wheelchair and I push you around that loop at Country Park?’ And that’s exactly what we did.”
Colbert encourages the community to stand behind the survivors and thrivers, and support those who could one day receive a breast cancer diagnosis.
“I think these events help push our world forward. I think it helps push research and funds. It encourages me to keep going, it encourages me to embrace that ‘on to live’ mantra, because our efforts make a difference,” she said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.