00:00I don't really think of the future the same way as I did before.
00:05I just sort of have accepted that there might not be as much future as I want there to be.
00:12When you're faced with mortality, you've come to terms with the fact that there might not be tomorrow or next
00:21week or next year.
00:23My name is Allie Reeland. I was diagnosed in February 2015. I was 27.
00:30Christmas, put lotion on, felt like a lump.
00:34I am BRCA positive. You know, it's probably nothing. Ultrasound.
00:37Biopsy.
00:38My doctor called me in to tell me that it was breast cancer.
00:42Invasive breast cancer, estrogen positive, HER2 negative.
00:52I decided off the bat that I was going to have reconstruction.
00:56For me, it was a no-brainer.
00:59I think it would have been really difficult to be like, oh my god, like there's nothing there.
01:05All the doctor's appointments and the poking and the prodding and the tests and the robes, surgeries,
01:10they don't really feel like breasts anymore. They're just like a part of me to give that appearance, I guess.
01:17I'm still here, I'm still alive, and I'm still me with or without breasts.
01:24It was like cancer woke me up, but then it really woke me up the second time.
01:28I was re-diagnosed metastatic May 2016. I was 28.
01:54At this point, there's really no surprises. You're going to have this disease for the rest of your life and
02:00you know that.
02:04When you're initially diagnosed with like stage one, stage two, it's like, okay, I can get through this and maybe
02:10I'll never get cancer again.
02:12And that's the hope, you know, but at this point, that's it.
02:15What's my life going to look like now and how am I going to deal with this on a day
02:20-to-day basis?
02:28Symptoms and stuff like that, I think it really depends on like what treatment I'm going through.
02:33And I don't know which one's going to work. You know, it's just a matter of trying.
02:37If it works, it's great. And if it doesn't, then you move on to the next thing.
02:44For a long time, I was like grieving that person that I was before.
02:50Looking at pictures, my long hair and going out and dating, the gym and like how I look.
02:59And you can't go back to that.
03:04Trying to embrace the person that I am now and priorities that have changed and the perspective that I have
03:10now, you know, it's definitely different.
03:19Metastatic breast cancer is not the number one thing. It's very low funded research.
03:25The fact that it's not spoken about as much, it seems to be pushing people more to get it out
03:32there.
03:33Because, you know, women are dying every day from this disease.
03:40It's so important to enjoy the time that you have and not take it for granted.
03:46The future is now, basically.
03:49I think that's how it has to be in order to move forward every day.
04:06That's right.
04:06Today in the future, I feel that it would be a bit of a time- Deadpool-y man.
04:06I think it's like a short time.
04:07Until then, we can see a new world where the future is,
04:07and if it's like a long time in the future,
04:07It's like a long time with this...
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