Pamela Crum: Taking One Step at a Time
How Pam Crum walked through breast cancer as a young mother 20+ years ago
In the fall of 2004, Pam Crum was chasing around a three-year-old daughter while she was 22 weeks pregnant. She was looking forward to adding to her growing family.
During a routine OB/GYN appointment, Pam’s doctor noticed a rash on her breast. They decided to watch it for a couple weeks, but it had not cleared up. After the follow-up appointment, her OB/GYN sent her directly to the breast surgery department where she had a biopsy. Unfortunately, the results revealed a breast cancer diagnosis.
Pamela’s Breast Cancer Journey
Pam was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, and her doctors encouraged her to begin treatment immediately. Pam had worries and concerns about undergoing chemotherapy and cancer treatments while pregnant and what it would mean for her unborn daughter, but her doctor reassured her that it would be safe.
“My oncologist explained to me that we have established drugs that have been used for many years and have been used on pregnant women,” Pam said. “We can use those drugs until your child is born and then we will switch to newer drugs that we don’t have research on in terms of using with women who are pregnant.”
Within just a few weeks of being diagnosed Pam began treatment. She was able to complete all the first set of chemotherapy drug treatments her doctors had scheduled before welcoming her beautiful baby girl in March 2005.
“She was born on a Monday, and like every parent, you check – there was 10 toes, 10 fingers, and she had a full head of hair even though I was bald,” Pam said. “My husband and I left the hospital with her on Wednesday. I went back to the same hospital the very next day and started the newer, less established drugs that they did not have studies on yet.”
Pam continued with the treatment, followed by radiation, surgeries and endocrine therapy. Even with the overwhelming emotions, Pam remained steadfast and resilient. She wasn’t just confronting cancer for herself, she was doing it for her family. She was taking it one step at a time.
“We spoke with the doctors and we felt like they had laid out a plan that would be safe for my daughter and also help me,” Pam said. “We just sort of… you do what you have to do. You take the first step and then you just go through it.”
Today, Pam has been cancer-free for more than two decades, and her youngest daughter celebrated her 21st birthday in March 2026.
Support System While Walking Through Cancer
As Pam underwent cancer treatment while taking care of a newborn and a 3-year-old, the Crum’s family, friends, and community rallied around them: grocery shopping, helping with the kids, cards, letters from people they had never met. Everyone encouraged them and reaffirmed a singular message: keep pushing.
“People were very kind to us, and we had a lot of help,” Pam said. “I feel like in some ways we were kind of carried through it; it wasn’t just us.”
Pam also joined a support group – creating meaningful relationships with other women who had breast cancer. Unfortunately, as each cancer journey is different, Pam lost one of her friends to the disease.
“She wrote me a letter before she passed away and said, ‘I’m so happy for you and just keep living.’ It’s really remarkable. Cancer gives you some gifts – people are so generous, and you see a side of people that you otherwise wouldn’t have. While I certainly wouldn’t want to go through it, it left impressions on me that I’ll never forget, and I carry with me each day as I go through life.”
The Importance of Cancer Research
Pam grew up in North Carolina during one of the prime periods for ACC basketball. Her family were strong North Carolina Tar Heel fans, but that didn’t stop her dad from sending a humorous letter to then NC State head coach Jim Valvano. Jim responded, and the letter and photo were framed in their house.
Pam married an NC State graduate who was a student when the Wolfpack won the 1983 National Championship. They knew of the V Foundation for Cancer Research; they’d both lost parents to cancer. But through Pam’s journey in the early 2000s they experienced the benefit of and need for more research up close.
When Pam was originally diagnosed, her husband learned that the 5-year survival rate for her type of cancer was just 30%. The 10-year numbers were even lower.
“[My oncologist] emphasized to us that we have newer drugs. I think that is where I tie into the V Foundation. I actually looked up the newer drug that I took, and it had not even been FDA approved for 10 years so it was not included in the study numbers my husband saw. The V Foundation focuses on research, particularly with young researchers and trying to do impactful research that can go across all cancers; I think that’s really important. Quite frankly, it may have saved my life and my daughter’s.”
“If research did this for us, then we want to pay it forward and make it available for all people.”
Pam is proudly part of the V Foundation for Cancer Research Capital Epicurean Planning Committee, which is tirelessly working on the October 2026 event. She’s excited to bring the V Foundation to Washington, D.C. once again. It’s the city where she has built her life and family. For more information on Capital Epicurean, visit v.org/capitalepic.
