When Patti Margeson found out she had breast cancer, she admits to being angry and sad, but the Redmond resident wasn’t going to let her body and mind back down.

“I never thought that this would take me — death was never an option. I knew I caught it early. I had a great attitude about that,” said Margeson, who learned of the cancer following her yearly mammogram appointment in November of 2011.

The 49-year-old home child-care businesswoman first fought through one surgery, during which doctors removed a 5-centimeter lump from her right breast. She also had a total hysterectomy because she learned she had BRCA 1, a genetic mutation in which her body doesn’t fight estrogen-based cancer; there was an 85 percent of her getting cancer again and an increased risk for ovarian cancer.

Margeson’s husband, Hank, a Redmond City Councilmember, accompanied her to every doctor appointment. Patti feels their relationship has strengthened  from when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, throughout her seven weeks of radiation treatments until the present day.

She’s cancer free and enjoying her child-care duties, two-mile walks with a friend around Redmond, going to the gym, riding her horse and living her life to the fullest.

“She is a very strong woman. This knocked her down a little bit, but nothing can beat her,” said Hank, who has been married to Patti for 27 years. They have two children in their 20s and have lived in Redmond for 19 years.

Both Hank and Patti have supportive friends who have helped them through the situation. For Hank, a member of the Northwest Baseball Umpires Association, he’s bonded with his fellow umpires, some of whose wives had breast cancer, as well.

“It’s something I don’t normally talk about with my male friends. This helps me to know I wasn’t going through this alone,” Hank said.

Patti’s friend, Jenn Nudelman, inspired her to become involved with the Susan G. Komen Foundation by attending its three-day breast-cancer awareness walk throughout the Seattle area in 2011. Nudelman was diagnosed twice with breast cancer and Patti felt the need to support her friend.

At the closing ceremony at Memorial Stadium, Patti “was just completely moved by it, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is such a big deal.'”

Last month, Patti joined her friends Todd Squire and Tasia Logan at the Komen three-day walk. This time, Patti was a walker and she completed 55 of the 60 miles because she got blisters on her feet.

Five miles short wasn’t a big deal for Patti, who gave it her all and knows she’ll be a part of the Komen family for years to come.

“It’s my opinion that once you get involved with this — and if you do it with your heart and soul — there’s something you’re touched with,” she said. “My team, which is called the Breastketeers, are super supportive — it’s like a bonding, family type thing.”

It’s been an emotional ride for Patti since was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s fought the whole way for herself, but she was stunned the weekend before the 2012 three-day event when one of her childhood friends died of ovarian cancer.

“It was very difficult to be fighting something and winning at something that you’re watching somebody else not win at,” Patti said. “If I can cause one woman to go in and get screened, because she saw that I caught it early, and I’m fighting it and I’m being successful at it (then I’ll be satisfied).

“I would love it if we could see a cure before my grandkids ever have to deal with this.”