Early in the morning, Emily Roehr arrived at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth.

“I’m a little nervous,” Roehr confided to her nurse as she took bloodwork for Roehr’s second chemotherapy treatment. “It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life finding out that I have cancer.”

At 35 years old, the mother of two is younger than the recommended age of 40 years old to start mammograms.

“I feel like there’s a lot of women that don’t know now how many younger women are getting it,” Roehr said.

Roehr was diagnosed in August with stage 3 breast cancer. She was uninsured, and referred to the Fort Worth-based nonprofit Careity Foundation, which helps uninsured and underinsured women navigate the system.

“We have 3 in one week in their 30s, and I mean young 30s,” Careity Foundation Co-Founder Beverly Branch said, noting the trend of more young women being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Roehr, who’s husband has a small business, said she had no insurance and worried about how to pay for biopsies and treatment. Careity stepped in, setting Roehr up with oncologist Dr. Vinaya Potluri, and getting her into treatment at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

“I started crying on the phone with her,” Roehr said. “That just lifted a weight. There’s no other way I would have been able to do that without Careity stepping in and helping me like that.”

“Time is of the essence, especially on the stage,” Careity Foundation Co-Founder Lyn Walsh said. “She was a stage 3, and we need to move quickly.”

“We’re moving forward because we don’t want her to sit there and wait and wonder, when is it gonna happen,” Branch explained. “So we take care of all those expenses before that plan takes place.”

“It lifted the biggest weight off our shoulders knowing that we would have everything paid for,” Roehr said. “It’s scary, but I’m trying to see the positive in what the chemo has already done for me, and how all these people who I don’t know, who don’t know me at all, have done so much for me just out of the goodness of their heart.”

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is meant to highlight the need for screening and early detection.