July 2025

Faces of Strength Calendar: Breast Cancer Survivor Shannon Cox

Shannon Cox

I’m getting my health back with each day and I’m grateful that my daughter got her Bachelors degree and that I didn’t have to miss one moment of raising her or missing anyone of her soccer games!

Tell us about your journey

In September 2020 while moving our daughter to college discovered a dimple in my left breast immediately went in and had an ultrasound to discover I had a 1.5 tumor! Next step I made an appointment to get a port put in. Two weeks of heal time – now I was onto the red devil cocktail. Six rounds of four strong Chemotherapy dark days ahead, losing my hair & appetite, but on the good days, I learned how to garden and be outside having to use gloves because no bacteria could get underneath my nails. I still ended up getting neuropathy very bad in my fingers and feet.

Now it’s March 5, 2021 – double mastectomy and the start of a reconstruction. I woke up to find out that I had some dying breast tissue. I was released from the hospital to immediately go into hyper bariatric chamber dives. We were doing two dives per day. We saved the breast tissue, but I also got the news that I had some lymph nodes that lit up, so now it’s back to 14 more rounds of chemo therapy and I lost my reconstruction. So we put the nipples in a cave and I wore prosthetic boobs for the next few years and I also had to have a second port put in the scar tissue. Was no fun to put back in.

My body handled 13 out of the 14 rounds before it couldn’t take any more chemo – my white red blood cells were off the charts lots of liver damage! 

Today I have healed and thanks to doctor Maximilian Malotky I now have my breast back with my own tissue and a shark Cartlidge. I’m getting my health back with each day and I’m grateful that my daughter got her Bachelors degree and that I didn’t have to miss one moment of raising her or missing anyone of her soccer games!

I’m OK to call myself a putter as long as I’m getting better with each day!

Nor-Cal Breast Cancer Connection Logo
A New Name, The Same Heart

For 30 years, our organization has been part of the fabric of this community — supporting individuals and families impacted by breast cancer with compassion, care, and connection.

As we’ve grown, so has our understanding of what our community needs. Today, our work goes beyond awareness — we are building meaningful connections, providing education, and offering direct support through our Breast Cancer Detection Fund.

That’s why we are proud to share that Nor-Cal Think Pink is becoming Nor-Cal Breast Cancer Connection.

This new name reflects who we are today and the future we are building — one rooted in connection, support, and ensuring that no one has to face breast cancer alone.

While our name is changing, our mission — and our heart — remain exactly the same.