Marily Considine

 
Marily Considine

Marily Considine’s life as an Army wife was finally settling down in 2010 when she came home from a Military Ball and discovered a lump in her breast. Marily and her husband were no strangers to rough times. During their 11 year marriage they had 2 children, moved five times to six different houses across four states, endured two year-long deployments to Iraq, had their yard (and nearly their home) destroyed by wildfires, and survived the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood. Through all of these hardships, their family bond grew stronger.

Marily’s husband had recently received an Army position that would allow him to be home for two years and Marily got a job teaching at her children’s school. Just as things were calming down, Marily had to gear-up to fight breast cancer. After doctors performed chest scans, MRIs and a biopsy on the lump, Marily was diagnosed with 3 IDC breast cancer on September 17, 2010. As an active 32-year-old woman with a healthy lifestyle and no family history of the disease, cancer was an unexpected battle to face.

Marily endured eight rounds of intensive chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy, having five lymph nodes removed and 33 rounds of radiation. Following treatment, on January 31, 2012, all of her scans came back clear with no evidence of cancer left in her body.

Marily loves to tell people that she learned more about life, love and beauty by losing her breasts than she ever did by having them. She counts herself blessed and credits her survival to being surrounded by an amazing family, a supportive network of friends and her soldier husband who taught her the meaning of bravery and courage. Marily has put off breast reconstruction to allow her family time to be together. She describes her family as “Army Strong.”
Marily and her husband plan to join hundreds of other survivors in the 20th Annual Susan G. Komen Greater Fort Worth Race for the Cure on April 14 at Ridgmar Mall.