AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, WAFJ 88.3’s morning host April Sather sat down with us to tell her story and advocate for other women.

“I just had this gut feeling that what I felt was not normal,” she said.

Sather’s mother died from breast cancer when she was just 29 years old.

“I watched my mother go through it at a very, very young age,” she said. “It was just before my fifth birthday when she passed, and I had watched her model her faith. I knew that I could get through it if that’s where I put my hope and trust.”

When Sather noticed some abnormalities back in March of this year, she knew she immediately had to schedule a mammogram. By the end of that week, she was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer.

“Initially you have that sense of panic, like ‘oh my goodness this can’t be happening right now, this can’t be what I think it is,'” she said. “And the other part of me went, ‘no you need to do something now because if you wait,  you could be headed down a very dangerous road.’”

After a double lumpectomy, margin removal and radiation at Piedmont Augusta Hospital, she said she is at the wait-and-see stage now to find out if the cancer is gone for good.

It’s very important to be proactive and utilize early-detection when it comes to beating the disease, she said.

“Technology and medicine has come so far compared to when my mother passed away from it 40 years ago,” Sather said. “[In] most situations now, it’s curable – you can beat it if it’s caught early enough.”

“April’s Army” is her support system for women in the community who are affected by breast cancer.

“People are talking about it more now than they ever have, but it’s still uncomfortable,” she said. “I wanted to take away that stigma, and also let people know that you can be strong and fight through this if you have the love and support of people around you.”

Sather and her supporters are walking together at the hospital’s 22nd Annual Miracle Mile Walk on Saturday, October 15th.

“[I’m] just asking listeners to come alongside and walk with me,” Sather said. “Whether they just want to support women in our community, want to walk in memory or in honor of someone, or maybe they’re dealing with it themselves. Whatever the reason, it’s just a great way to get out and be a part of it.”

She said that without her family, friends, listeners at WAFJ and her faith, she wouldn’t have felt so encouraged during this time.

“Knowing that God was my keeper,” Sather said. “He was going to keep me safe and see me through no matter what the outcome would be.”