At 26, Michelle Curtis was busy juggling a job and raising two young children.
Breast cancer was the furthest thing from her mind.
When she started to experience pain in her right breast, the 33-year-old said she ignored it for six months.
"There was zero cancer in my family and my mom came from a family of 10," she said at the end of Nite of Hope last Thursday night.
"But when I told my doctor, whose own wife was diagnosed with cancer two years earlier, that I was having pain in my breast, he immediately made an appointment for me to have a biopsy."
Initially, the Abbostford resident wasn't worried, thinking it was probably benign.
"The day my doctor got the results and told me I had cancer, I was shocked," she recalled.
"I couldn't believe that me, who was so young and with no family history, could have breast cancer."
At 27, Curtis underwent six months of chemotherapy, a bi-lateral mastectomy and another half-year of radiation.
Seven years later, Curtis is healthy and happy to be alive.
"I get to enjoy watching my kids grow up," she said smiling. "I'm a much stronger person because of the cancer."
This was her inaugural year attending the Nite of Hope.
"I found out about Nite of Hope from a fellow survivor, Feather Bryce, and she asked me to join her, as Judi Miller had donated her tickets," said Curtis.
"I decided to attend the Nite of Hope because it is such an amazing experience to be a part of helping find a cure and to see that there are so many people out there who are a part of the research and future of all of us women effected by breast cancer.
"The Nite of Hope has to be the most amazing experience and such a beautiful event . my gratitude to Judi Miller and all of the supporters who attended."
Curtis was especially moved when the lingerie models came out wearing black cardboard hearts with the names of loved ones they were honouring.
"The whole night was incredibly moving, but to see the models coming out to Cyndi Lauper's song, True Colors, made me cry," added Curtis.
