HALIFAX -- Melanie Clarke is the type of person who sets goals and achieves them.
The Prince Edward Island native played soccer at Dalhousie, competed in CrossFit, and is a national level weightlifter, so you can imagine the shock when her doctor told her she had breast cancer.
The 37-year-old mother of two says keeping fit is her "guiding light."
"That transitions over to everyday life," says Clarke.
She vividly remembers the day she discovered the lump. It was after she had been breastfeeding one of her two sons.
"I was weaning Kingston, my first born," Clarke says. "He was about 11 months. So, as I was weaning him, I noticed a lump on the side of my right breast."
It came as a shock to her and her husband Blake Gallagher.
"My life just changed in a moment," Clarke said. "My husband was crying and I was just mad. I was angry because I thought, 'I can't leave my child. I can't do that.'"
Her doctor acted quickly and the cancer was caught early. Clarke said she didn't need radiation or chemotherapy and she considers herself lucky for that.
