The Stage 4 Thriver Who Jet-Skied to Catalina: How Cindee Rewrote the Metastatic Cancer Playbook

Episode 4 - From the Kicking Cancer's Ass Podcast - Subscriber Exclusive

What do you do when your doctor tells you that your "clogged milk duct" is Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer?

If you're Cindee Nicole, you make an Excel spreadsheet of every place you want to travel, teach your 19-month-old to climb in and out of his crib using a step stool, and start planning the most epic 40th birthday celebration in human history—which includes jet-skiing 60 miles round trip across the Pacific Ocean while battling cellulitis and staph infection.

"I have two options," Cindee told me during our conversation. "I could be sad and not, or I could, we're just gonna freaking go."

This is the story of how a mother of three turned a terminal diagnosis into a travel itinerary and transformed "You have cancer" into "Hold my beer, I'm booking a flight to France."

When "Just a Clogged Milk Duct" Changes Everything

Picture this: You're weaning your third baby, and you notice what feels like a familiar nursing issue. September comes and goes. November arrives, and that "clogged duct" is still there. Your doctor measures it—5.3 centimeters.

For context, that's roughly the size of a lime. In your breast.