Mother of 3 Receives Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis After First Mammogram (Exclusive)

In October 2021, content creator Nasreen Shahi went in for what she thought would be a standard screening — her first mammogram at age 40.

Like many women, she expected a quick visit and a clean bill of health, especially since she had no concerning family history. Instead, her world was flipped upside down when doctors delivered the shocking news that she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

“It was literally the biggest shock of our lives. Like, we just did not see it coming,” Shahi tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I was – what I felt to be – so healthy at that time, so busy, so full of energy. Doing everything that I normally would. So when we found out, it was almost not believable.”

Since the cancer had already spread to her liver, Shahi found herself in a chemotherapy chair just two weeks after her initial diagnosis – beginning an intense and uncertain journey she never saw coming.

“I thought I was invincible. I would have never imagined I would be in this place,” she recalls. “Like, never in a million years – you couldn’t have convinced me otherwise. I was perfectly healthy.”

With little to no time to process the diagnosis or seek second opinions, Shahi decided to place trust in her doctor and quickly connected with a recommended oncologist.

Given that her cancer was hormone-fed — estrogen positive, progesterone positive, and HER2 positive — Shahi required immediate aggressive treatment.

She began six rounds of chemotherapy over 18 weeks — a combination of three drugs administered every three weeks. Throughout treatment, she used cold capping to help preserve her hair, though she still lost about 60%.

As a mother of three, Shahi shifted into autopilot, focusing on staying organized and getting through each day as efficiently as possible.

“I almost thought of it as checking the box. Like, okay, first I have to go get a port placed. Okay, second, I need to start chemotherapy. Okay, next I’m gonna do radiation. Okay, next is gonna be surgery,” she explains. “I just had to think of it almost like a checklist to stay alive.”

Shahi underwent a double mastectomy, deep flap reconstruction and an oophorectomy to remove her ovaries to cut off the hormones fueling the disease.

“When they suggested it, I was like, ‘Yes, do whatever. Let’s go as aggressive as we possibly can, so that this can be in the past,’” she shares.

“So we did all that, then I did 28 rounds of radiation. And then, got right back on immunotherapy, which is what I’ve basically been on and off for the last three years.”

Today, she is classified as having No Evidence of Disease (NED), meaning all detectable signs and symptoms of cancer are gone, a hopeful yet cautious place.

“The maintenance therapy for most metastatic breast cancer is indefinite. There is not a stopping point,” Shahi explains.

“The way someone described it to me years ago – and I’ve always tried to remind myself of this – is that metastatic cancer is almost like being a monkey,” she says. “That you’re swinging from branch to branch, and you want to hold onto that branch as long as possible – that treatment option as long as possible.” 

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Continuing with immunotherapy, Shahi remains determined to maintain her health since managing the numerous side effects from her treatments and medications comes with its challenges.

Since her cancer was estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 positive, she takes a daily aromatase inhibitor to block estrogen, which puts her into full menopause in her early 40s.

“Achy joints, fatigue, just exhaustion, all of those things, and one life-changing thing – It’s not groundbreaking, everybody should be doing it – but it’s staying active,” Shahi emphasizes. “That has been the biggest game changer for me.”

The busy mom maintains a daily routine of walking three to four miles and strength training at least three times a week. Regular exercise has eased her joint pain, boosted her energy and helped protect her bone health through menopause.

While movement has helped her physically recover, she credits her support system for keeping her spirits high during every phase of the journey.

“I really believe that cancer is such a family diagnosis. It is not a one-person show,” she says. “Like, it truly takes a village, and I am beyond lucky to have that support. My husband, my kids, but also my sisters, my parents, my in-laws, everybody – and the amount that they supported us really carried us through everything.”

Shahi believes that maintaining a positive mindset carried her through her most difficult days. “If you can’t be strong mentally, this is a really tough game to play,” she says.

After her diagnosis, the content creator admits that she wasn’t sure if she was going to continue her job. 

“I was like, nobody’s gonna wanna look at me with no eyelashes, falling out hair…like, this is not what I started for, this is not why people followed me, and nobody’s gonna wanna still follow my advice,” she tells PEOPLE. 

However, she was pleasantly surprised by the outpour of support from the online community she had built over the years.

“I think that they’re a lot of the reason why I am so positive, of course, along with my family and my kids,” she shares. “They just are so encouraging, so positive, and it’s almost like they rallied around me and supported my page even more, and so it gave me more of a reason to want to come back every day on social media and share.”

Even if she only had a few eyelashes left, Shahi was determined to stay confident – showing her followers facing similar health challenges that they too could feel empowered.

“In terms of just raising awareness, I honestly didn’t even realize what reach this was gonna have,” Shahi says. Hundreds of women have told the content creator that her story prompted them to get a mammogram, leading to early cancer detection they might have otherwise missed.

When offering advice to women facing a cancer diagnosis – or supporting someone who is – Shahi admits that it’s going to be difficult.

“You’re basically giving up a year of your life to go through absolute hell and back to get the rest of your life back. Think of it as a checklist, get through each process,” she says. “Your only job is to survive each part of this process. Stay positive, because you’re a lot stronger than you realize, and you can do it.”