At only 40 years old, Jasmine Cameron knew something wasn’t right when she felt a lump in her right breast.

Early testing suggested it was likely a fluid-filled sac, but over the following months, Jasmine noticed it was changing quickly. The lump continued to grow, eventually reaching nearly the size of an orange.

Jasmine trusted what her body was telling her and continued asking for further testing. Eventually, a biopsy provided the answer: she had breast cancer.

Jasmine remembers knowing the conversation was serious when she and her husband, Steve, were asked to attend the doctor’s appointment together. Her thoughts quickly turned to their children, 10-year-old twins, Krosby and Maguire.

“Everyone was terrified,” she says. “I decided early that I wasn’t going to hide anything from my kids. I didn’t want them looking back on this process and having questions.”

At the same time, she worked hard to keep life as normal as possible. “I did everything I could not to look sick.”

Within two weeks of her diagnosis, Jasmine travelled from her home in Moose Jaw to the Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina. There, she met the doctors and nurses who would become part of her care team.

When testing showed that the cancer wasn’t responding to chemotherapy as hoped, her treatment plan changed. Jasmine underwent a double mastectomy, followed by radiation after cancer cells were found in her lymph nodes.

Only a year later, testing found an area of concern in her lung. Surgery and pathology confirmed that the cancer had spread and Jasmine was living with metastatic breast cancer.

Today, at 44, she receives ongoing treatment and regular scans to help control the disease. She calls the nervous feeling before each scan “scanxiety.”

“You never know what the next scan will show,” she says.

Still, Jasmine refuses to let that uncertainty define her life. Today, she says she feels fantastic,  and she uses her experience to advocate for other women.

After her diagnosis, Jasmine found comfort in hearing from people who had already walked a similar road. She joined online communities where women can ask difficult questions and support one another.

Over time, Jasmine became one of the people offering that support. She began sharing her own experience online and women started reaching out to her for advice.

Jasmine is especially encouraged that breast screening in Saskatchewan has expanded to include women beginning at age 40. Her own experience taught her how important it is to know your body and pay attention to changes.

Her cancer journey has also shown her how far treatment has come. She knows metastatic breast cancer is not currently curable. But new treatments and medications are helping people live longer.

“Years ago, being diagnosed with this could mean you were terminal,” she says. “Now, because of advancements, you might get another year or another 20 years. It’s absolutely amazing.”

Jasmine has seen firsthand how donor support can improve the cancer experience. A comfortable recliner during treatment. A snack or drink during a long appointment. A handmade quilt. A support program offered free of charge.

“It’s the little things that get you through the day as a cancer patient.”

Jasmine and her family were also given the chance to step away from cancer for a while.

A colleague told her about Cameco Riders Touchdown for Dreams, a program that gives Saskatchewan women facing a life-threatening cancer diagnosis the chance to create a special memory with their families.

Jasmine was chosen as a 2026 Dream recipient. From the gala to a VIP Roughriders game experience, the family was treated to a weekend unlike anything they had expected.

“They treated us like royalty,” Jasmine says. “It was a weekend where we didn’t have to think about reality.”

For their Dream, Jasmine chose to take her family on a trip to Toronto during Jasmine’s birthday week. They went to a Toronto Blue Jays game, visited the Hockey Hall of Fame and aquarium, explored the city and enjoyed the Canadian Open from a VIP section.

For a family used to treatments, scans and appointments, the trip gave them something different: time together without cancer at the centre of everything.

“The memories we made – I could never have offered that to my family,” Jasmine says. “I am unbelievably thankful.”

Cameco Riders Touchdown for Dreams also connected Jasmine with other women living with cancer. One woman she met had been living with metastatic cancer for 13 or 14 years. For Jasmine, that connection meant more than finding someone who understood – it gave her a sense of possibility.

“It gave me hope that I can be that person too,” she says.

Four years after her diagnosis, Jasmine knows she cannot predict what her next scan will show. But she also knows there is still so much life to live. There are birthdays to celebrate, teenagers to raise, women to support, and memories to make.