Shasta is the single mom of Madisyn, a full-time hairstylist at The Parlour Off Grand in Escondido, CA and she is the niece of Jill Etzold Kester, whom the TJF was named after.

She was diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene in August 2016 and made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy just a couple of weeks ago. TJF was thrilled to present Shasta with a check for $5,000.00.

​Here in her own words is what Shasta had to say. “You said to write a few words about my experience. It is really hard to put my experience into a few words because my life completely changed once Aunt Jill died. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. I’ve always wanted to be like her my whole life…so in July when they found a lump, I didn’t freak out about it. Thankfully, it was nothing and led to me getting genetic testing. Ever since I found out I had the BRCA1 mutation, my anxiety has gone through the roof.”
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Freaking out about when it’s going to hit me; it’s not about if I get cancer, it’s when! And that is so crazy to think! That is why I chose prevention; I’m not going to wait for my boobs to kill me! I want to have the chance to be here for Madisyn as long as I can! I’m her only parent; I can’t leave her…. And be there for her for her testing; she has a 50% chance of having the mutation also.