Name: Chelsie Hardin
Company: Colonial Downs Group - Rosies Gaming Emporium
Title: Regional Marketing Manager
Goal: $1,050
Why I am Participating:
My name is Chelsie Hardin. Breast cancer was always a concern. My great-grandmother passed from it, several women in my family have the BRCA1 Gene, and my grandmother was diagnosed in 2015. So, when I found my lump in July 2021, I knew it was cancer. Even when everyone said, “Don’t worry, it’s probably just a cyst. You’re so young.” But on August 23, 2021, two weeks before my 29th birthday, it was confirmed that I had Triple Negative Invasive Ductal Carcinoma - the exact cancer my grandmother had 6 years earlier. I was devastated, but I had to put aside what I felt were lost dreams and the stress of increasing medical bills and focus on living. Cancer completely disrupted what I had envisioned for the future of children, marriage, and even my career.
I was, and still am, the Regional Marketing Manager for Rosie’s Gaming Emporium. It was there that I was introduced to the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. I feel so blessed to have been chosen as a Sole Star to help raise funds to help educate women and ease the financial burden of testing. As someone who was diagnosed young and was “never sick” I was blindsided by the costs of treatment. I hope that the awareness we bring can help ease that stress and give other women on this journey the ability to focus their energy on being amazing survivors.