Breast cancer survivor makes it her mission to save others

Breast cancer survivor is making it her mission to save others not just by wearing pink or by walking in the American Cancer Society making Strides Against Breast Cancer a Phoenix Walk but she's putting her money where her mouth is. Her name is Mitzi Weed and she is a top fundraiser and is quite literally leading the way for those who want or need a mammogram. Anita Roman shares her story. Mitzi Weed works for ADP Human Capital Management in Tempe. The view from her office window holds special meaning, and that's because in March of 2024, she happened to look out this very window and saw an on-site mobile mammography bus. And I say very directly that ADP helped save my life because if that mammography bus had not been there and making screening easy, time-efficient and accessible during a busy workday, I likely wouldn't have gone and done it. Mitzi was 57 at the time and her new chapter took a turn. Her results came back abnormal, prompting an in-office follow-up. That screening basically led to more imaging and biopsies and then led to the diagnosis of the ER and PR positive and the DCIS stage zero and stage one. What we found was two lumps. I had very dense, dense breast. And that usually is a sign that I found out that women that have dense breasts usually need to have more thorough screenings and rather than just the initial screenings. So what happened is I then began to do my own research. And through the analysis of that research, I was finding out what would happen if I chose to do nothing? What would happen if I chose to do something on this avenue where you have an option what happens if I did you know everything and so we really weighed the pros and cons my husband and I and we decided to take the avenue of I didn't need them anymore you know doing the math you want to you want to take down the percentage of it may reoccur. Mitzi underwent three major surgeries that included removing fat and tissue from her inner thighs to rebuild her breasts after her double mastectomy. I was going through everything. My focus was not only on what I needed to do. I'm a very transactional person. I'm like one plus one plus one equals three. Done. Next one. And then I keep moving. But the emotional part of it was my journey that I was able to help other people and get pre-screened. The journey led Mitzi full circle. In October of 2025, she joined fellow breast cancer survivors in a sea of pink right outside her office window at Tempe Beach Park in the American Cancer Society, making strides against breast cancer at Phoenix Walk. Mitzi is one of the top individual fundraisers for this year's event she passionately fundraises to support early breast cancer research and screening efforts it's making sure that that you know we are putting out there the message that you don't have to be 40 you don't have to be 50 I I went through and I didn't wait for my scars to share my story I shared it immediately on diagnosis internally all the way to everybody within our social media, in our ADP, just in our own environment. And so what I did is I wanted to share that journey. My goal is if I could actually influence one person to go get screened, then me putting my vulnerability out there and being humble about it, then that gave me a purpose and I felt like we were winning. every dollar every step counts uh join me Anita and Desiree at Tempe Beach Park Saturday at Tempe Beach Park event opens at 6:30 a.m. and the walk then begins at 8 you can get more details at fox10phoenix.com/events and it'll be early but it'll be beautiful and it'll be in the 60s so we look forward to seeing all of you there