From patient to philanthropist: Breast cancer survivor now providing crucial financial support to Coloradans

The month of October signifies Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's a time devoted to educating and early detection of breast cancer internationally. Here in Colorado, survivor Christina Somes says she hopes her story can inspire and benefit others.

"I am an 8-year survivor," she began as she shared her journey. "I had no history of breast cancer in my family. I was really healthy, exercised on a super regular basis, ate extremely well."

Somes says she went in for a routine mammogram and got unimaginable news. "I didn't find a lump. The surgeon called me back two days later and told me I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. If someone had told me that I was going to have breast cancer, I would have said, 'absolutely, no way am I going to get it.' I literally almost wrecked my car because I was so shocked."

However, that shock turned to determination.

"For about three weeks, I literally kicked rocks, did the whole, 'why me? Why me? Why me?' And after that, I was like 'OK, I have to take this on by the horns and start treatment,'" she said.

Slowly but surely, with surgery and radiation, she completed her mission to beat cancer in late 2017. Then, she began her next mission.

"I just kept thinking, 'how can I give back?' and I was speaking to some other women who were going through it. And there's so many women being diagnosed under the age of 40 with young kids," she said. "They might just need help with their kids while they're going to chemo. Uber rides, groceries, rent, or treatments."

Christina and her husband, Scot, started the Colorado Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. It's a nonprofit that raises funds through community events, then gives them directly to patients, helping them navigate the ups and downs of their journey.

"It's all voluntary, so every single dollar that we raise goes to the grant recipients," she said. "The turnaround time is one week versus a lot of foundations are 2-3 months. Last year, we had two young women who were about to get evicted, and we paid three months' rent for them each so they wouldn't have to deal with it over Christmas."

Grant by grant, it fills her heart to pay it all forward. "This just fills my cup. It fills my heart," she said.

If you're a Colorado resident and would like to apply for a grant, click here.

The CBAF has two main fundraising events each year: a pickleball tournament in February and "Tee off for Tatas" in August.