Tarah Harvey was a mother, wife, daughter and business professional, who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in October 2016 at the age of 32. She lived in Little Elm, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, with her husband Sam and two young children, Hannah and Braxton.
Tarah was diagnosed with de novo mBC, after noticing a bump on her breast while nursing her then eight-month-old son. De novo mBC means the breast cancer is metastatic at initial diagnosis. In the U.S., approximately six percent of women are diagnosed with de novo mBC.
Many of Tarah's family members, including her father, were diagnosed and sadly passed away from cancer. After Tarah was diagnosed with mBC at a young age, her doctors recommended that she receive genetic testing to determine if her breast cancer was caused by an inherited genetic mutation. She tested positive for the BRCA2 and CHEK2 mutations. After receiving her genetic test result, Tarah learned that understanding her hereditary status can help inform treatment decisions. It can also help her children to one day take proactive steps to managing their potential risk for being diagnosed with cancer.
Tarah always kept a positive outlook and stayed motivated by setting personal goals, like taking her daughter to her first day of kindergarten – which she did! Tarah also believed in the importance of sharing her story to help others affected by mBC know they're not alone and that there is a community of people who are incredibly supportive and want to help.
Sadly, on October 19, 2019, Tarah Harvey passed away from mBC at the age of 35.
Photographed by Melissa Lyttle
Tarah Harvey was a mother, wife, daughter and business professional, who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in October 2016 at the age of 32. She lived in Little Elm, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, with her husband Sam and two young children, Hannah and Braxton.
Tarah was diagnosed with de novo mBC, after noticing a bump on her breast while nursing her then then eight-month-old son. De novo
