Breast cancer survivor climbs Vermont's highest peak to raise awareness

Breast cancer survivor climbs Vermont's highest peak to raise awareness

STOWE, Vt. —

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a survivor is setting a goal very few, if any, have achieved in an effort to raise awareness for a cure.

Michy Lemay thought she was perfectly healthy before she received her diagnosis. If she hadn't gone in for a scan when she finally did, her life could look very different today.

"I'm just so grateful for the life that I have, and making the most of every day," Lemay said.

If she's not spending time with her family, coaching young skiers or running her own summer camp these days, you can likely find Lemay along the trails of Vermont's highest peak.

"Mount Mansfield, one of my very favorite mountains in the whole entire world," she said.

Lemay is setting out to accomplish a goal she calls the "Michy Mansfield Million."

"I decided to take on a big challenge by doing one million vertical feet, human-powered, vertical feet up Mount Mansfield," Lemay said.

She's given herself a year to do it. Every day she hikes, bikes or skins the mountain, only counting the distance she covers on her way up.

"It's like a way to almost prove to myself that I'm back to myself," she said.

It's been almost exactly three years since Lemay began an unexpected battle with Breast Cancer.

"When I felt the lump, I was actually heading out on a bike ride, and I literally wrote on my hand with a pen, like 'Call the doctor,'" Lemay said.

It was the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and appointments were hard to get. Lemay was around six months overdue for her routine mammogram when she felt the lump on her chest.

"I had never felt healthier and stronger in my life when I found it," she said. "Like I had no other symptoms, like I was just as active as ever, and everything felt great."

But, scans revealed her health wasn't as perfect as it seemed. Lemay ended up undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

"After radiation, it just sort of like, it really just spearheaded me to kind of continue these challenges and push myself and just really like connecting on a whole new level with nature and myself," she said.

Now through her survival journey, she continues to push physical limits, with just over 100,000 feet left to cover up Mt. Mansfield, and continues to raise awareness for other women like her.

"You know, getting those cancer screenings at 40 or as soon as you need to get them, depending on your history, is so important to take that seriously," she said.