Cancer Survivor Writes Guide for Young Patients Like Her

When Erin Perkins found a lump in her breast at 34, she convinced herself it was nothing. She was nursing her toddler during the pandemic and thought she was too young for cancer.

The diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease, shattered that assumption. "I felt like a black hole opened up and I was going to fall in it," Perkins recalled about those early days at UNC Health Cancer Center of Raleigh.

Navigating treatment during the pandemic meant attending appointments alone, facing confusing medical decisions without preparation. When a doctor asked if she wanted a port for chemotherapy, Perkins remembers thinking, "I don't know."

But amid the fear and isolation, she found community in her medical team and other young cancer patients. Some of those friends didn't survive, a reality that pushed Perkins to make her time count.

"We don't always know that we have a 'someday,'" she thought, deciding to tackle her longtime dream of writing a book right then. She filled pages with the honest experiences and practical information she wished someone had shared with her.

The result is "Young Breast Cancer Your Story and Mine: A Compact Guide," a small blue book now available at Blackbird Books and Coffee in Raleigh. Perkins keeps her oncologist's office stocked with copies for newly diagnosed patients.

Dr. Megan McNamara, Perkins's oncologist of five years, gave the first copy to a patient who spotted it during her appointment. "She said, 'Can I have this?' and took the book home," Dr. McNamara shared. "I immediately called Erin and said, 'Your book has already helped someone in real life.'"

Why This Inspires

Perkins wrote from a place of deep pain, shaped by scars and grief for friends who didn't survive. Yet she transformed that suffering into something that reaches other young women facing the same terrifying diagnosis. Her message is refreshingly honest: it's okay if cancer treatment feels unbearable, and you don't have to pretend to be fine when you're not.

The book reminds patients they can do hard things, one day at a time, with hands outstretched from a community they didn't know existed.

Five years later, Perkins walks through those same cancer center halls where she once felt overwhelmed, now carrying a different kind of weight. "I decided I won't forget every person I knew who passed," she said. "They go along with me."

She also carries gratitude, finding beauty in everyday moments and hope in the possibility that sharing her story might ease someone else's burden.