26-Year-Old Beats Breast Cancer, Now Inspires Others

When Alexis Klimpl scratched an itch on her chest two years ago, she felt something that would change her life forever. The then-24-year-old Pacific Beach resident discovered a lump on her right breast that turned out to be stage II triple-positive breast cancer.

What followed was a whirlwind of treatments that would test her strength in ways she never imagined. Klimpl first underwent a painful egg-freezing process to preserve her fertility, enduring multiple daily shots, constant blood work, and surgery to retrieve her eggs before chemotherapy could damage them.

Then came six rounds of chemotherapy. "It was brutal," Klimpl recalls, describing the fatigue, bone pain, hair loss, and painful facial rashes that followed each treatment.

After the tumor shrank, she chose to have a bilateral mastectomy followed by breast reconstruction surgery months later. The entire journey took nearly two years.

Today, at 26, Klimpl is cancer-free and back to doing what she loves most: surfing, swimming, and spending time outdoors in San Diego. She's returned to her work as a publicist and is rebuilding the active lifestyle cancer temporarily stole from her.

On March 13, Klimpl will speak at the Susan G. Komen 2026 Impact Luncheon in downtown San Diego, where she'll share her perspective as one of the few young women facing this disease. While breast cancer typically affects older women (the median diagnosis age is 63), rates among young women are rising.

Why This Inspires

Klimpl's message goes beyond her own survival story. She wants to highlight the unique challenges young breast cancer patients face, from fertility concerns to career disruptions and delayed life plans.

"With the medication I'm on, I can't have kids for five to 10 years, so how does that impact and change my life and my goals?" she explains. These realities often get overlooked because breast cancer in someone so young isn't considered the norm.

Her time in chemotherapy rooms taught her something powerful about gratitude. Watching others fight for their health gave her a new appreciation for what her body can do.

"There are so many people who'd give up anything and everything in their power to be where you are, to have the opportunities that you have," Klimpl says. It's a perspective that now shapes how she approaches each day.

Recovery hasn't been just physical for Klimpl. Learning to love her changed body, complete with scars and implants, took time and self-compassion.

But she's getting there, one surf session at a time, ready to help other young women know they're not alone in this fight.