“It’s a gamble,” she says now, in reference to the surgery. “Women need to know that. Any woman going through this needs someone there to be the advocate and bully.”

For Ryan, that “someone” is her husband, Dennis. The couple lives in Blue Mounds with their 12-year-old son, Kably, their dog, and their two cats. The dog, Moxley, has been a lifesaver, Ryan confides. He was rescued by the family two weeks prior to Ryan’s double mastectomy, shortly after the family’s four-year-old former dog passed away unexpected.

“There were not too many times that I cried.” Ryan discloses. “I cried when I got the diagnosis. I cried when my dog died. I cried when the infection put me back in the hospital, I cried when my hair fell out, and I cried when my insurance company told me they wouldn’t cover a wig.”

Kresha Ruvalcaba
"Battling Breast Cancer: Shelley Ryan"
October 2009