Click here for updates on this story
Dallas, TX (KTVT) — At just 24 years old, Nicole Akers was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.
“It was very shocking and surprising for me,” she said. “At the time I didn’t necessarily feel why me? It was more of a why now? My husband and I had just been engaged a week.”
In a weeks time, she went from making wedding plans to planning her fight against cancer. She went though a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation before being told there’s no evidence of cancer.
“It was tough but I was extremely fortunate,” she said. “I had an incredible support system which made all the difference in the world.”
After radiation, she was able to get married and later opened a residential cleaning business with her husband.
“We were just looking for something to invest in that we could be part of long term and that we could have an impact not only in the communities that we’re in, but also with our employees,” she said.
Two Maids & A Mop of Dallas partnered with the nonprofit Cleaning For A Reason.
“We offer free home cleaning services to women who are battling breast cancer,” she said. “It was really a no brainer for my husband and I after what we had been through. We’re coming in and we’re able to take something off the to do list for people.”
But it’s not just about providing these services. Nicole said it’s also about offering emotional support.
“I found when I was going through it people really don’t know exactly how to react, what to say, and there really isn’t a lot necessarily besides just being there and listening that people can really do,” she said. “So this feels good that we do have something that we can do for somebody that might make some small difference.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.