The Comeback Girls
Kaitlyn
Nurse anesthetist, writer, advocate, lifelong learner, soft-life convert
PhotographyKassandra Langley Photography
WordsKaitlyn Tomeno, The Science of Survivorship
off the record
One of her tattoo sleeves doubles as a travel diary, with tattoos collected in different places she’s visited.
The Details
Current Era
Less proving, more living
Current Obsession
Reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
She's Proud of
Using her medical knowledge and lived experience to help other people advocate for themselves
Unexpected Joy
Writing something and hearing, “Me too.”
IN HER WORDS
“I saved my own life by pushing for screening. Now I want to help others do the same.”
Her Story
Kaitlyn likes to know what comes next—and usually has a plan for getting there.
A first-generation college graduate, she worked her way from patient care tech to earning her doctorate in nursing anesthesia by 28. She loves the challenge: 3 a.m. epidurals, critically ill patients, and high-stakes decisions—without losing sight of the person underneath the drapes.
Outside the hospital, Kaitlyn is an avid reader, the friend who plans the entire trip, and happiest over good food in a new place. She and Mike, her high-school sweetheart, grew up together through college, careers, moves and every major life event. A trip to Spain sparked a love of travel that has taken them around the world.
Then, at 35, she became the patient.
With no lump or symptoms, Kaitlyn pushed for screening after scoring high on a breast cancer risk assessment despite being told she was young and asymptomatic. She advocated for both a mammogram and MRI. That persistence led to the discovery of stage I invasive breast cancer.
“I know my story would be much different if I had stopped asking.”
Fiercely independent, Kaitlyn found herself leaning on Mike in a new way. He met every decision with humor, research, steady support and, naturally, an Excel spreadsheet. “I’ve never felt more like we were a team than I have since cancer."
Treatment brought a bilateral mastectomy with DIEP reconstruction, chronic post-mastectomy pain and medically induced menopause.
Cancer forced her to slow down and ask bigger questions: Who am I when work isn’t at the center? What else matters? What do I want this next part of my life to feel like?
In that slower space, she found writing, community and creativity. She built her Substack, The Science of Survivorship, became more active in the breast cancer community and began working on The Comeback Girls.
Now, she wants to use both sides of her experience—the provider and the patient—to share science-backed information and help others advocate for themselves.
She is still figuring out what she wants this next version of her life to look like.
HER IN THREE WORDS
- ambitious
- curious
- caring
WHAT A “COMEBACK” MEANS TO HER
A comeback means letting go of the need to have everything figured out. Kaitlyn spent most of her life planning, researching, and powering through. Now, she’s learning to make room for uncertainty—and build a life that still has ambition, but also more writing, connection, rest, and softness.
