I could not believe what I was hearing: "You have a very rare form of breast cancer called Inflammatory Breast Cancer."

My doctor’s words were stunning and frightening, all at the same time.

You see, "rare" and "cancer" were two words I never expected to hear in the same sentence. After all, I had taken good care of my health and had religiously had regular checkups and mammograms. In fact, I had a good report from my mammogram just a couple of months before... and now I was being told that this rare breast cancer cannot be detected by mammogram.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) kills thousands of otherwise healthy young women every year. Fortunately, I went to the doctor as soon I felt something was wrong. I was even more fortunate because my doctors had experience with IBC and reacted immediately. The day after my diagnosis, I began chemotherapy and what would be the fight of my life.

That was in 2000. I have survived almost nine years since my diagnosis – and I call them the best years of my life. On May 5, 2009, I learned that my cancer had returned, and my fight continues.

Most people have never heard of Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

That’s why we’ve formed TeamKaren – to expose this terrible disease, inform others who, like me, had never heard of this disease, and to raise money for M. D. Anderson’s Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Center.

Maybe someday, through the efforts of TeamKaren and your support, other women won’t have to hear the words "rare form of breast cancer." Maybe someday, through your generosity, researchers will find the cause of IBC and will be able to prevent this terrible disease from striking future generations of women around the world.