BILLINGS — A Billings woman is urging others to trust their instincts and advocate for their health after an initially dismissed lump led to her diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer.
Listen to a Billings woman's story about her fight to get a cancer diagnosis:
On the outside, 43-year-old Glea Lahr looks the part. The mom of three is a cosmetologist by trade and a local influencer, making a living by selling makeup and Amazon products on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
But what she does not often show is the fight that changed her life.
"My world stopped, but everybody else just kept going, and it was really hard," said Lahr.
It began as a lump she found in her breast one day back in 2017. She visited her primary care doctor with concerns. After being sent to the cancer center, she remembers doctors quickly dismissing it as a harmless cyst due to her age and lack of cancer history in her family.
"They said, 'Hey, we can remove it or we can aspirate it, but a lot of times when we do that, it'll just fill back up anyways,' so I kind of just felt like I didn't know what to do," said Lahr.
The lump was drained, but the fluid returned before she even left the parking lot. Over the next six months, Lahr continued to push to get it removed and eventually convinced a surgeon to remove it entirely.
"He's like, 'We'll send it to pathology for the like 1% chance it could be something that it's not,'" said Lahr. "He calls me the next day and says, 'We found traces of breast cancer cells in your cyst fluid,' so it was just like a whirlwind."
At the age of 35, Lahr was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form that does not have many treatment options. According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, women under the age of 40 are more likely to die from breast cancer than those over 40 and are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive forms of the disease.
“I just felt like from the very beginning, it was just kind of like, 'Oh, you're fine. You're fine. It's not a big deal. It's just a cyst,'" said Lahr. "Had I not advocated for myself or kept being persistent, I don't know that I would still be here today.”
After the diagnosis, everything changed, a time she described as the hardest period of her life. Lahr owned a salon, and her days were filled with clients and caring for her family, but it didn't take long before she sold her business and turned her focus to survival.
"I remember having little kids and my oldest son was still in high school and I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, I don't know if I'm going to be here for them to graduate or to have babies or get married," said Lahr. "I felt super guilty about moving all my stuff back to my house because I was like, I don't want my husband to have to get rid of all this if I pass away."
What followed was nearly a year of treatments and surgeries, including 18 rounds of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. But the physical toll was not the only hardship.
“Having to get your breasts removed, it's pretty devastating,” said Lahr, tearing up. "It's like a part of you that makes you feel like a woman, and you don't really have a choice. It's like, they're trying to kill you.”
Lahr did not face her struggle alone and found support through her family and even the surrounding community in an unexpected way — a $1,000 check that arrived one day in the mail.
"They call it a pink hug, and it's exactly what you need during that time,” said Lahr.
The money came from the Montana-based nonprofit Pack the Place in Pink, which was founded in 2007 by former Skyview Volleyball coach Vicki Carle after her breast cancer diagnosis.
“We turned a negative into a positive, and we're making a positive impact still,” said Carle.
The group has given away over $1.1 million to women fighting breast cancer since 2013. The money given can be used however patients need, from medical bills and groceries to even something joyful.
"We went to just giving money to women, and they'll get a letter and it'll say, 'Use this money anyway you see fit,'" said Carle. "One woman sent us a beautiful thank you, and she bought two wigs, a puppy, and a guitar."
"Sometimes they pay a bill," added Lynn Noland, a board member. “Vicki has such a passion for it that everybody catches it, you can't help it, so it's a great group of women, and everybody works hard, and it's a blessing.”
Now seven years later, Lahr is cancer-free and has given back to the organization that has assisted her. She has even helped raise $10,000 through her own direct sales company. She wants to continue to share a message she wishes more women knew about getting checked early, something the nonprofit also continues to teach.
"This is about taking care of yourself, pay attention to this, you need to be your best advocate, and let's start that young,” said Susy Paddock, a board member. “Just recently, in the last probably four to six weeks, we've sent money to women in their 30s, and I think the youngest we ever had was 18 years old when we first started."
Now in remission, Lahr's life looks different, but she uses her story to encourage other women, especially those who are younger, to trust their instincts and speak up when something does not feel right.
"I think that sharing this has also been a blessing in disguise because I've been able to have a lot of other women that have gone through it since I have," said Lahr. "I just think that’s the biggest thing is just advocating for yourself, and if you feel like something's wrong, it probably is.”
This week, Q2 is featuring stories highlighting breast-cancer survivors leading up to Friday's Pink Breakfast on Montana This Morning on Q2. Click here to learn more on how to donate to Pack the Place in Pink to support local survivors.
