Amanda West's Story

Koa Life would like to be a source of comfort, inspiration, advice, guidance, and most of all, support. Why? Because I’ve been in your shoes – and I know how hard it is to find the answers you’re looking for, and how lonely the journey can be.

My personal journey started in my 20’s. I was doing the responsible thing, getting myself checked regularly. When I felt a lump, my doctor did a biopsy and said it was nothing to worry about and thought surgery wasn’t necessary.  10 years later, when I got my cancer diagnosis, I remember being filled with regret. The lump I found in my 20’s had turned into cancer.

I wish my story was filled with vulnerability, support, and compassion– but that’s not how I chose to go about my journey. The day I got my news, I didn’t tell anyone. I was at work when I got the call, and I scrambled into a conference room. I went numb and quietly left the office.  

Over the course of the ordeal, I was filled with so many questions and I needed answers - fast. When it comes to cancer, time is rarely on your side. How do I prepare for the upcoming surgeries? What should I expect from chemo? How do I tell the people close to me? How would cancer affect my career? What about freezing my eggs? Who can help me?

I shied away from telling co-workers because I didn’t want to see the sad eyes and I didn’t want to stand out. I went into auto-pilot because I never wanted to give myself time to think about what was really happening to me.  I barely missed work, since I used my job as a distraction from the cancer that was taking over my body. I didn’t feel comfortable turning to friends at work for support. Most of them were in their 20’s and 30’s and couldn’t relate to what I was going through - they were either starting families, preparing for Dreamforce, or thinking about a fun get away.

Over the next 5 years, I would go through 2 lumpectomies, chemotherapy, radiation, egg harvesting, reconstruction surgery, drugs to put me in menopause, and an infection that landed me in the ER twice in 1 weekend and required painful treatment for weeks after. That treatment was the first time I let myself cry.

For more than half of this journey, I was on my own. I had a partner at the time of my diagnosis, but our relationship was rocky at best. He stayed by my side through the cancer and I have nothing but gratitude for his support, but one person can only do so much. When we broke up after I finished chemo, I had to navigate the limbo between cancer and my new life. Eventually, I forced myself back out into the dating world. Challenging enough on it’s own in your late 30’s, going on dates was uncharted territory with breast cancer. Do I tell my date about my cancer? When’s the right time? I was beginning to feel stronger, but was still shy about telling people about what I had been through because it was terrifying to think how people would react.

I started getting stronger and bolder as time went on, and I’m now cancer free after 5 years. Two years ago, on a challenging hike on the Kalalau Trail, I had a wave of inspiration and courage. As I trudged up a steep, muddy section of the trail – I felt “Koa” – Hawaiian for “brave”. I knew it was time to help others.  And so, Koa Life was born.

Over the next two years, I would work with friends, colleagues, and the larger community I had built around myself to bring this inspiration to life. During my lonely battle with breast cancer, lacking friends and resources I could turn to, I frequently spent late evenings scouring the web.  I struggled to find information to prepare for surgeries, chemo, working with cancer, telling my friends, thinking about freezing my eggs, and more. I wanted to create a space where people like myself could turn to for information, for support, for guidance and comfort – wherever they are in their cancer journey. I also wanted to find an easy way for people to share their health data with others to improve treatments and prevent doctors from telling others, “you have breast cancer.”

This evolved into the mission of Koa Life - to help people get access to timely resources during diagnosis, treatment, and thereafter and empowering them to own their patient data to end breast cancer. My vision was to create something that would make it easy for people by asking them to share some of their information, so we can provide helpful articles, videos, books, support groups, and even wigs!

This blog is my way of connecting to the Koa Life Community. I believe it’s important for all of us to share our stories, and talk about the highs and low of the journey. So for this, my introduction to all of you, I want to say welcome! Over the coming months, I want to share more of my journey, and dive deeper into some of the topics I’ve touched on briefly here - from dating, to surgery, to chemo, and more. Please sign up for our newsletter. We will update you as we roll out new services and resources.

Do you have a breast cancer story to share?  Please send it our way at koadotlife@gmail.com.