EP woman survives breast cancer, mentors others through Firefly Sisterhood

When Sara Flagstad felt a lump in her breast during a monthly self-exam in the summer of 2023, she couldn’t imagine the life-changing events that would follow.

Flagstad, 34, who lives in Eden Prairie with her 9-year-old daughter, Nora, called her doctor. A mammogram led to an ultrasound and then a biopsy.

“They were almost certain that, due to my age and lack of family history that it was most likely some kind of benign growth,” Flagstad said. But the biopsy came back as triple-negative breast cancer, a rare form of the disease and one of its most lethal and aggressive types.

“I was fortunate to have caught it early while it was still Stage 1, but triple negative is always straight to chemo,” she said.

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Flagstad suddenly found herself amid a whirlwind of medical advice, an uncertain future, no experience with a life-threatening disease, and the responsibility of caring for a young daughter.

During her first visit to her oncologist’s office, she was given a packet of information. “It was a big binder full of all of the community resources,” she said, holding two fingers about an inch apart. “And there was the Firefly brochure.”

The brochure was for Firefly Sisterhood, an organization that provides free, personalized one-to-one support for women who have been affected by a breast cancer diagnosis.

“We connect women diagnosed with breast cancer to a peer mentor guide — survivors who have experienced a similar journey and offer hope, guidance and emotional support,” said Genna Haddad, program manager at Firefly Sisterhood. “Our mentoring program helps expand the support network beyond family and medical teams, offering a compassionate, understanding ear from someone who has been there.”

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Flagstad studied the brochure and made a decision. “For me, it was ‘I’ve got nothing to lose here,’” she said. “You reach out and see how this works out.”

She didn’t have any friends who had gone through the experience. “And I was also the first in my family to have been diagnosed with breast cancer,” she said. “So, I really didn’t know who to go to or have anybody to talk to with a similar experience.”

Firefly Sisterhood quickly connected her to a peer mentor. “(She) had such an impact on me and helped me so much through the journey that I knew when I was on the other side of it, I wanted to give back that same way,” Flagstad said.

About a year after she learned she had a potentially deadly form of breast cancer, Flagstad signed up and became a mentor this July. “I’m just excited to be able to give back and help out somebody else,” she said.

She sees her job as meeting the women she mentors where they’re at and what they’re comfortable with.

“For a lot of women, this is the most shocking news they’ve ever received,” Flagstad said. “There’s a lot of sensitivity involved in that, and I’m trying to make sure that they’ve got what they need while respecting their privacy and comfort levels as well.” 

She’s mentored two women so far. One has moved on, while the other remains a friend. 

As for herself, after six months of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, Flagstad is cancer-free. “I was very fortunate to have caught it as early as I did,” she said. “Women don’t qualify for mammograms until they’re 40 years old. Triple-negative breast cancer spreads really quickly, and once it has spread elsewhere, it’s harder to treat.” 

Flagstad was one of five women honored for their work with Firefly Sisterhood at a University of Minnesota women’s volleyball match in October. The appreciative crowd, including many women and their daughters, stood and applauded.

“I definitely didn’t know this much about breast cancer a year and a half ago,” she said. “I didn’t think that this is somewhere I would be or something that was in the plan for me.”

As she reflects on her experience, Firefly Sisterhood now offers her an opportunity to give back some of what she received.

“All of my friends and family and the women around me and the way that they supported me through it with calls or texts or helping out with Nora or meal trains,” she said, stopping mid-sentence. “I had so much support, and I couldn’t have done it on my own. And I really feel like the support around me carried me through the experience and on the other side of it.

“Now, I just feel this overwhelming need to give back in any way that I can, to really show my appreciation for how significant it was for me, and that the importance of community and having that village to help get me through it was really, really an important part for me.”