courtesy: PUSH Media Group
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WUSA) -- Mike Numera is an Eastern Shore musician who lost both his mother and step-mother to breast cancer. He has organized a day-long rock'n'roll fundraiser for the Tigerlily Foundation at "The Whiskey," 1803 West Street in Annapolis. Tickets are $20 at the door.
WUSA 9 news anchor Anita Brikman is the host, and she recently profiled the specific needs Tigerlily meets for young women battling breast cancer, who may feel isolated and alone.
Maimah Karmo is the founder who says, "Tigerlily is my promise to God and my gift to my daughter and other women. The goal is to get young women under 40 aware of their breast health, to give them hands on support during treatment, and to empower them to be their own best advocates."
Karmo says she made that promise to help other young women while she battled breast cancer at the age of 32. She found a lump in her breast back in 2006 while doing a self-exam in the shower. She says it was hard and pea-like, and had not been there the month before.
A mammogram produced a 'false-negative' results; experts say this can happen more often in younger women who have dense, or cystic breasts. Karmo says a breast surgeon did not want to perform a biopsy, but she insisted. She says the results stunned her, and the doctor.
Maimah says the diagnosis was, "Triple-negative, which is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. So I knew that if I hadn't pushed for the biopsy, I would be dead or dying today. And that's how my journey started."
Maimah is now five years in remission, and the Tigerlily Foundation has helped thousands of breast cancer patients. It provides 'buddy-bags', care packages to support women as they go through chemotherapy. And the "Funds for Families" program literally helps pay bills during a medical crisis.
"It's a tough economy. Nobody plans for cancer," says Maimah. "We pay light bills, we pay utilities, we pay mortgages, rent, car notes."
Maimah's daughter Noelle was only 3 when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has become her constant companion at Tigerlily fundraising events, and her proud mother wouldn't have it any other way.
Maimah says, "I used to lie in bed and worry if I would be alive to watch her learn to read and write and ride a bike. Now she's planning her own events."