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"Life was busy and chaotic," said Salazar of Dayton, Ohio, at PEOPLE in this week's issue. "I do not know how we managed to manage everything."
<p class = "canvas-atom web-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Yet, Heather has yet opened her heart again after she went to her neighbor's house one afternoon and heard about Alexis Preston, a 23-year-old single mother from their community who had stage 4 breast cancer. "data-reactid =" 13 "> Yet, Heather again opened her heart again after going to her neighbor's home one afternoon and hearing about Alexis Preston, a single mother of 23 years of their community who had stage 4 breast cancer.
According to her neighbor, who was also Preston's midwife, Preston was ill and was about to place his 8-month-old baby Lexi in foster care.
"I could not help thinking about them," says Heather, who decided to meet Alexis and her husband Steve at a local grocery store three days later. "She was wearing a bright pink wig and she was so nice. Our hearts have melted. "
At that time, Heather and Steve knew that they wanted little Lexi to be theirs forever. Five weeks later, she went home with them and they started the adoption process.
"Alexis was too sick to take care of Lexi, but she was so full of hope," said Heather, 45, who drove her under treatment, went shopping and filed Lexi regularly.
And while they were taking care of Preston, she underwent a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Despite her best efforts, she passed away in June 2003.
While the Salazars were grieving and adapting to a family of six, "it was a sort of rat race," recalls Heather, but things finally calmed down.
It was not until a year and a half later that Heather discovered a small, hard mass in her chest while she was in the shower.
"Alexis always said that young people had cancer," she says. "I did not know it before."
Alexis Preston with her daughter Lexi in 2003 | Courtesy of Heather Salazar
A few days later, a biopsy confirmed that she had HER2-positive breast cancer, the same aggressive cancer that cost Preston her life.
"I thought," Will Lexi lose two mothers? Said Heather. As a result of a bilateral mastectomy and three months of intensive chemotherapy, Heather joined a one-year clinical trial on Herceptin, a drug that has proven effective since then in the treatment of this drug. type of breast cancer.
Without Alexis' diagnosis, Heather admits she would never have been examined.
"She saved my life and showed me what my real purpose was in life," says Heather. "I owe him everything."
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Inspired by both Alexis' journey and his , Heather became CEO of the Pink ribbon girls non-profit, data-reaid = "37"> Inspired by both Alexis and her journey, Heather became CEO of the nonprofit organization Pink Ribbon Girls, which provides meals, transportation to and from treatment and support for women with breast cancer or gynecological cancer.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "RELATED, RELATED, RELATED: Women, 25, learns that she was diagnosed with breast cancer after undergoing an & nbsp; double mastectomy & nbsp;"data-reactid =" 38 ">RELATED: 25-year-old women learn that she was diagnosed with breast cancer after undergoing a double mastectomy
<p class = "canvas-atom web-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Heather hopes that after their recent expansion to Missouri and in San Francisco, they can grow nationally and continue to help more women. in partnership with Uber Healthand have offered thousands of free trips to cancer patients so they can easily get to and from treatment without having to drive or worry about financial costs. Heather hopes that after their recent expansion into Missouri and San Francisco, they can expand nationally and continue to help more women. Uber Health and have offered thousands of free walks to cancer patients so they can easily get to treatment and get back without having to drive fresh.
"We help provide services to women so that they can spend their time with the people they love the most. I want to make sure no one is traveling alone on this road, "said Heather, who has been in remission for 14 years.
Jenna Dittrich, a mother of two who was diagnosed at age 30 and "felt so lost," is one of the thousands of women Pink Ribbon Girls helped.
After using their services and getting involved in peer support, she said, "It gives you the added strength of knowing you have people on your team."
And for Lexi, who is 18, she wants her biological mother, Preston, to know one thing: "I have the life she wanted for me," says Lexi, who plans to attend Liberty University. from Lynchburg, Virginia, next fall. a soccer scholarship.
"We never imagined that our family would look like this," said Heather. "But it was really meant to be."
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "To learn more about Heather Salazar, check out the latest issue of PEOPLE at newsstands Friday. & Nbsp;"data-reactid =" 47 ">To learn more about Heather Salazar, check out the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.
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