BILLINGS — Around 50 breast cancer survivors will be honored at the NILE Rodeo's Pink Night Friday. One of those women is Kristen Arnold, who said she would have never gotten a mammogram after she turned 40 if it weren't for two of her close friends, also breast cancer survivors.
"I have the most amazing friends," Arnold said at the Yellowstone Medical Center Wednesday.
The southeastern Montana trio of friends Arnold, Bekah O'Shea, and Annie Austin met eight years ago.
"All of our kids went to a small rural school, and that's where we met. We were all part of the PTA," said Arnold.
Little did Arnold know, their friendship would change her life in ways she couldn't imagine years later.
"It started with Bekah. She was diagnosed first in October of '22," Arnold said. "And it just was very, very surreal. It, you know, just watching her go through chemo and losing her hair and then surgery."
The trio would experience deja vu just a couple of months later.
"And then Annie got diagnosed in January of '23 and she just had surgery. She didn't do chemo or radiation, but to watch her then have surgery and do this journey, it was pretty hard to watch," said Arnold. “It was very, very surreal."
It was because of her two friends that Arnold decided to get a mammogram as she approached her 40th birthday.
"I probably, without them having go going through this, I would not have maybe gone in right away at 40," Arnold said.
Arnold was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in April 2024.
"I did 16 rounds of chemo first to shrink the size of the tumor because it was big. And then I had a double mastectomy in November and then I had 25 rounds of radiation," said Arnold.
It's not the first or even second time she's experienced cancer in her family.
"My mom passed away from cancer when I was 12 and that shaped who I am today. And then my dad passed away when I was 23," Arnold said.
It's an experience that she got through with the help of her friends.
"We've found ways to laugh through this," said Arnold. "We handled it all very different and then we came together and we had those conversations that, you know, were hard and we cried and we laughed and we got angry."
Her two daughters and husband also gave her the strength to survive.
"My youngest is probably my biggest supporter. She, I'm not saying that my oldest isn't either, but my youngest is very tender-hearted and, will just always check on me and give me a little words of encouragement. Both of them are amazing." Arnold said.
It's something Arnold's family and friends will celebrate Friday at the NILE Rodeo's Pink Night now that the trio has completed treatment.
"Annie's aunt so graciously bought the rest of the family tickets, um, in a box. So everybody's going to be there," said Arnold. "We're just going to go and support each other. It's for all of the other women that are there and have a great time."
"We always have a special seating area for our survivors. And it's a fun night. It's to celebrate survivorship," said St. Vincent Healthcare's breast cancer patient navigator Ella Staples.
The NILE Rodeo will donate $1 for every ticket purchased to go toward the hospital's Eva Project.
"The purpose of it is to help women that are uninsured or no insurance to get mammograms every year starting at 40," Staples said. "So if they can't afford it, the Eva Project pays for it...Also, the Eva Project will pay and help ladies if they can't afford prosthesis, plus surgery bras for fittings and that, they'll pay for that as well."
Arnold hopes her story will give other women the courage to get themselves checked out.
"If it inspires one person to go get a mammogram, then I've done my job. If it inspires one person to keep fighting when it's tough, then I feel like I've done my job, to keep pushing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," said Arnold.
