Most people in their twenties are planning their future, creating joyful memories, and exploring the world, but twenty-six-year-old Krista Iuliano was busy fighting to have a tomorrow.

Iuliano, a current South Windsor High School counselor, was attending a bachelorette party in 2010 when her life changed forever. As she applied aloe to her sunburnt chest, she felt an abnormal lump. Panic surged through her as Iuliano rushed to make an appointment with a local oncologist. Her worst nightmare became true when she was immediately directed to a breast surgeon for further examination.

A five-centimeter mass was found in Iuliano’s chest, warranting immediate surgery. Iuliano recalls the moments after waking up from her surgery. 

“I could tell immediately. I could tell by the look on their faces that it was not good news,” Iuliano explained.

 Her doctor could not determine whether or not the mass was cancerous but stated that what she saw was alarming.

In an interview with The Prowl, Dr. Alvaro Menendez, a breast oncologist at Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, said, “breast cancer is highly curable in early stages.”

Instantly following her diagnosis, Iuliano called her best friend, Deborah Alter, to share the news. 

Alter vividly recalls that moment.

“The call left us all in a state of shock. When you’re young, there is often a sense of invincibility, making it challenging to fathom the possibility of such a life-threatening circumstance,” Alter disclosed. 

Iuliano was given a choice, she could do radiation or get a double mastectomy. Putting her life first, Iuliano decided to move forward with a double mastectomy, to be completed by the end of the year. 

“The rest of my story will tell you that getting rid of them doesn’t mean that it won’t come back,” Iuliano emphasized. 

Between July and December 2010, Iuliano had eight rounds of chemotherapy, four rounds of Adriamycin, and four rounds of Taxol. Throughout Iuliano’s treatment and recovery process, she continued to work as a school counselor at her former job, Arts at the Capitol Theater High School in Willimantic, Connecticut. Every two weeks, she went to the hospital for chemotherapy, took a few days off of work, and then returned. 

Alter described Iuliano as a “determined and resilient person. [She was] facing her cancer with grit.”

Two months after her diagnosis, Iuliano and her friends ran in the Susan Komen for the Cure race in Boston, Massachusetts. Pushing through her fatigue, Iuliano crossed the finish line with complete joy and pride. She didn’t allow the cancer to take over her life the way others believed.

By November 2010, Iuliano had completed her last round of chemotherapy, one session ahead of schedule due to her plummeting white blood cell counts. As the New Year approached, she was preparing for her double mastectomy. By April, she appeared to be out of the woods and ready to embrace a new chapter in her life. 

“I was very lucky. Young people generally get very aggressive triple negative cancer where they don’t know what causes it,” Iuliano stated.

In her case, Iuliano’s cancer was slow-growing, which is less aggressive and relatively easier to treat. 

The previous year, Iuliano had received entry into the lottery for the New York Marathon. However, upon learning that her health was at risk, she decided to defer her offer until she reached a full recovery. 

November 2011, just months after enduring chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, Iuliano crossed the finish line of the New York Marathon. Despite her exhaustion and pain, she ran the full 26.2 miles in three hours and fifty minutes, averaging a swift nine-minute mile. 

“I was really, really proud of myself,” Iuliano told The Prowl.

Iuliano embraced her life and moved on to new and better things, until September of 2014. 

It was the weekend of Iuliano’s best friend’s wedding and there was a pain in her chest. She had brushed it off as a pulled muscle, yet decided to get an MRI as a precaution. She was able to live out her weekend happily until the news caught up to her on Monday.

The news was devastating. Doctors had found two peripheral nodules on Iuliano’s lungs. Her cancer was back and became Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. The cancerous cells traveled through her bloodstream and infected another healthy organ.

“It is important to remember metastatic breast cancer is not curable, but treatable, and we can offer patients a lot of time with good quality of life. A third of patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer will live past 5 years with the diagnosis,” Menendez explained.

Iuliano was instructed to get a lung biopsy. To have a lung biopsy, the patient must remain awake while a needle is threaded into the lungs. She described the experience as a “nightmare.” Awake and present on the table, her lungs collapsed numerous times. To save her life, doctors placed a chest tube in, allowing for the lung to re-inflate.

Nevertheless, Iuliano didn’t allow for a chest tube or metastatic cancer to take away from her life. She attended a concert at the Big E while having the chest tube in place.

“I was like: I’m going to this concert,” she said. 

At her Connecticut hospital, she was told chemotherapy was the only way to remove the cancer. Iuliano, who had plans for her life, sought out another opinion at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. It was here that she was told chemotherapy was not the way to go. Her oncologist here believed since the spots were so small the best way to treat it was locally, rather than systemically. 

Since there weren’t any FDA-approved drugs for metastatic breast cancer, a clinical trial was the sole treatment for her. However, Iuliano did not qualify for the trials. As a young thirty-year-old woman, her body was not yet in menopause, the very thing needed to qualify her.

In a single weekend, Iuliano had to decide her entire future. She had to decide whether or not to remove her ovaries, in the hope of having the treatment. Even if she decided to have her ovaries removed, that didn’t mean there weren’t risks. To have her eggs frozen to preserve her fertility, hormones were needed. Due to her cancer, these hormones posed a risk of increasing the spread of cancer in her body.

This became a difficult decision for her due to her desire for children.

 “The first time I had my surgery I asked ‘Am I going to be able to have kids?’ I have always wanted to have kids and be a mom.” When Iuliano’s cancer returned she had asked again whether or not she could have kids. Her doctor simply stated, “I don’t think that’s in the cards.” 

Ultimately, Iuliano decided to take the risk for her future. She removed her ovaries and was placed on the clinical trial drug. 

“I wanted to give myself the best chance,” she stated.

Iuliano ended up excelling on these drugs, but her life was not yet back to normal. Since a clinical trial involves drugs not approved by the FDA, the only way to receive them is through the hospital completing the trial. Twice a month Iuliano had to drive to Boston to receive her medicine until the drug was approved. 

Flash forward ten years, Iuliano remains on one of the trial drugs, now FDA-approved, and has been able to keep the cancer at bay. Eventually, she underwent surgery to remove the two spots from her lungs and tried for a baby. Despite all odds, Iuliano conceived a child. 

Walking into the hospital, prepared for her C-section, Iuliano ran into her surgeon who removed her first cancerous tumor. She was able to reconnect with the person who saved her life. 

“I said, ‘I’m having a baby,’ and it was a lot of tears and a full circle moment, ” Iuliano told The Prowl.

“I think having my ovaries out saved my life. I was given the chance to have a baby after all of these things and years,” Iuliano stated.

Before her son’s birth, Iuliano did an enormous amount of fundraising for both metastatic breast cancer and rare cancers. She was able to raise $10,000 for breast cancer and rare cancers, each. 

“I was lucky enough to have so many trials for breast cancer that I wanted to give back to cancers that don’t have as much research and funding,” Iuliano said. 

Iuliano lives her life as a mother, daughter, friend, and so much more. She never allowed cancer to take control of her life. Now Iuliano proudly walks down the path of motherhood while staying as optimistic as she can. Although her cancer will never truly be gone, Iuliano has made it to a point in her life where she doesn’t need to worry each and every day.

“This journey has blessed her with a beautiful son, a supportive husband, and a wonderful life,” Alter commented. 

“I’m on the other side,” Iuliano declared.