Marline was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, a type of breast cancer. Marline always had regular mammographs. But after the birth of son, she continued to lactate, she shared with the doctors, and they continued to monitor and noted that she had dense breasts. After Marline's nephew jumped on her and landed on her right breast, she said she was in indescribable pain, worst pain she has ever had. She went to see her doctor and a September 2022 mammogram showed some type of abnormality and a biopsy on October 5 confirmed the cancer. Selected Dana-Farber because they are the best. From the minute she hit Dana-Farber’s door – wonderful people have been the greatest advocates for her.

According to BreastCancer.org, one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, except for skin cancers. It is about 30% (or 1 in 3) of all new female cancers each year. On average, every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes. At this time, there are more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.