For Erica Howe, hockey was never just a sport. At four years old, she saw hockey on TV and knew immediately: that’s what I want to do.

Her parents listened. They signed her up. And she never looked back.

Growing up in Ottawa, Erica spent her days playing road hockey and skating on the Canal. When she became a goalie, she knew she had found her place. “One of the best days of my life was becoming a goalie,” she says.

By 18, Erica was playing competitive hockey at the national level. She went on to play for Team Canada at the World Championships, serve as an alternate for the 2018 Olympic Games and, in 2024, become part of the Toronto PWHL team for its inaugural season. When the puck dropped on Toronto’s first game, she remembers the tears and tingling that came with realizing a dream she had spent years imagining had finally come true.

Two months after that historic season, Erica noticed something was different. She was more tired than usual. Then, in June 2024, she found a lump in her left breast.

At first, Erica turned to Google. The results suggested it was probably not cancer. But her friends, family and teammates encouraged her to see her doctor. At a charity ball-hockey tournament, a couple of friends felt the lump themselves and insisted she get it checked. Shortly after, Erica was diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma.

Her life changed again.

“I had these two identities — firefighter and athlete — and they’re both so physical,” she says. “And suddenly they were swiped right out from under me.”

Treatment became the hardest thing Erica had ever experienced. While she told people at the time that she was okay, looking back, she recognizes the physical and mental toll it took on her body.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” she says.

Through it all, her communities carried her. When Erica didn’t have enough sick time to cover her time away from work, Mississauga firefighters created a spreadsheet where colleagues could sign up to work her shifts. Friends, family, teammates and colleagues showed up in countless ways.

Her experience with breast cancer also changed the way she thinks about progress.

As a female athlete, Erica had always understood that her career was built on the women who came before her — athletes who pushed through barriers so the next generation could have more opportunities.

Her diagnosis made her think about that same idea in breast cancer care. What had women been through before now? What was treatment like 30 years ago, before today’s research and treatment protocols existed?

Erica knows someone had to walk that path before her so she could have the care she received. Now, she wants to help carry that progress forward.

“Someone had to walk before me so I could have the experience I had,” she says. “I want the next person who hears the words ‘you have breast cancer’ to have reassurance that their journey will be an easier, more thoughtful path.”

That’s the work Breast Cancer Canada is committed to: funding research that advances detection, improves treatment and delivers better outcomes, so the next person diagnosed with breast cancer can have a better path than the person before them. For Erica, research is about making sure that progress doesn’t stop with her generation.

Erica also knows that access to that progress is not the same for everyone.

She feels fortunate to have been diagnosed in Mississauga, close to Toronto and hospitals with access to leading research and treatment. But she knows many Canadians do not have the same access to specialized care, research or even a second opinion.

“When you go through something so horrible, you want that second opinion,” she says. “You want access to the greatest care.”

She believes everyone should have it.

Today, Erica is still recovering, but she carries a new perspective with her. Her experiences as an athlete, firefighter and breast cancer patient have shown her the power of community — and the importance of continuing to push progress forward, even when you may never see its full impact.