They Said It Was Terminal. Kiley Durham - Castricone Beat Breast Cancer, Brain Surgery, Complications, and the Odds.

"We don't have control of the number of days we are on this planet. We should embrace it, love it, and live it the way we want to be remembered." — Kiley Durham - Castricone Kiley Durham is an artist and designer turned breast cancer advocate whose story is nothing short of extraordinary. At 21, Kiley moved to New York City for a fashion internship and never left — going on to work with renowned designer Kay Unger, heading the evening design department, and building a career in fashion design and jewelry consulting. In 2017, three months after the birth of her second child, a lump that doctors initially attributed to mastitis turned out to be stage three triple negative breast cancer. What followed was a years-long battle that included a bilateral mastectomy, brain surgery, a rare and often times fatal cancer complication called leptomeningeal disease, a breast cancer recurrence, and a total of six years on treatment. Today, Kiley dubbed by her physicians as “a unicorn,” is two and a half years cancer free, enjoying motherhood, and channeling her experience into advocacy work with the Breast Cancer Alliance and the YWCA. In this deeply moving episode, Kiley shares the full arc of her cancer journey, from the discovery of breast cancer, to the moment she blacked out in her New York City apartment and woke up to the news of a brain tumor diagnosis, to the devastating conversation with a doctor who had tears in his eyes as he gave her the prognosis of LMD. Kiley also reflects on how to support others with a cancer diagnosis, and the collateral damage of cancer — surgical menopause at 37, osteoporosis, brain fog, and the emotional toll on her family — and why, despite everything, she would do it all over again. What we explore in this episode: (08:35) The breast cancer diagnosis that came three months after her daughter was born (10:03) Emergency brain surgery: waking up with 30 staples and a walnut-sized tumor (27:32) The rare diagnosis Kiley received with a three-month prognosis (35:07) The immunotherapy that changed everything and has given Kiley two and a half years cancer free (40:11) A second breast cancer diagnosis in 2021 and six years of continuous treatment (52:12) How Kiley grieves the person she was before cancer Connect with Kiley: @kdurham_artanddesign on Instagram Website Breast Cancer Alliance Cycle for Survival Connect with Nathalie: AllOverAgainPodcast.com @AllOverAgainPodcast LinkedIn