‘Bootjack Girl’ with a story of resilience, grit

Erin Bressler may live in the hustle and bustle of Orange County, but she’s Bootjack through and through.

“It shapes you to be resilient in your heart,” said Bressler, who spent last weekend at the Mariposa County Fair promoting her new book, her business and talking about a journey with cancer that changed her soul.

She was born at John C. Fremont Hospital in 1980 and raised in Bootjack. She was an athlete at Mariposa County High School who graduated in 1998.

Bressler, whose maiden name is Bagley, was raised along with her two sisters, April and Summer.

After school, she moved to Tuolumne County and attended Columbia College where she focused on recreation.

Then, “I met a guy,” she said.

“I lived in the desert for a while,” she added.

Then, she moved to Corona, where two daughters came into the world. Mikayla is now 10 and Maya is 9.

“I’m an ice and roller hockey mom,” she said.

It was while she was living in Corona with two young children when Bressler went in for a routine mammogram. She was 41 years old.

The medial professionals decided to “tack on a breast ultrasound,” she said.

It would be an important step — and life changing.

Ironically, at the time she was teaching fitness “for stroller mommies. I was in the best shape of my life.”

The mammogram, she said, was “clear.”

Then came the ultrasound.

“It was the size of a pea,” she recalls.

But it was cancer.

“Hollow,” is how Bressler described that moment. “I could hear the world echoing. Once you hear it, it’s like you are dying.”

She also had a simpler, more direct way to express her feelings: “Oh shit.”

Bressler had been diagnosed with breast cancer. But as most people know, an ultrasound technician can only say so much; a doctor has to give the more complete information.

She walked out of the door of the building and “called my momma and cried … and cried.”

Bressler also talked to her sisters and others, but added, “You don’t really remember it. I was a walking zombie.”

Through all of the agony, she still had to wait for a call from her doctor.

“It’s not good,” was what her doctor said.

The doctor said she was “triple positive,” which is just a step below “triple negative,” the worst possible diagnosis.

Bressler distinctly remembers being in the bathroom when she took the call. She collapsed “on the toilet. Thank God the lid was closed.”

She said she was “overwhelmed and scared,” but knew the fight ahead was one that had to be taken head on. Bressler also said the fact she had two young children, three and four at the time, kept her going.

“My instinct was to keep going,” she said.

Another journey

After the diagnosis, the hard realities set in.

It was September 2021, during the pandemic, when Bressler began chemotherapy.

During the first few rounds of chemo it was with doxorubicin, more commonly known as “Red Devil,” and for a reason. It’s a powerful drug that has multiple side effects.

“I lost my hair in a week,” she said.

She was also “afraid” her children would be “scared” seeing their mother without hair.

The solution?

“I let them shave my head,” she said. “It was my new look.”

Bressler endured chemo for a year, 16 rounds in total.

During that time, her “weak immune system” caused more problems and prolonged the chemo.

After that first year, she spent the next year on “targeted therapy drugs” via injections.

To complicate matters even more, when it was decided a mastectomy was necessary, there were issues with the surgeon and the plastic surgeon, who “parted ways,” she said.

But the cancer was to the point where surgery was necessary. The doctor was quite inexperienced, said Bressler, and she would be doing her first surgery. But Bressler is a caring individual and said “everyone has to start somewhere.”

Thankfully, she said, the surgeon got most of the tissue and the cancer was gone. But the surgeon also didn’t do a great job on the skin and Bressler had an infection and more complications.

She then had to do breast reconstruction with another surgeon and during that, her lymph nodes were removed and “it didn’t spread.”

Though there were still issues, she credits the organization “Knitted Knockers” for helping her through all of the trauma.

All of this took a lot of time and it wasn’t until the beginning of 2024 that her condition began improving. Her appointments went from four months apart to six months. She is now free of cancer but will be taking drugs the rest of her life because of the ordeal.

Bressler has to have a specialist for a gynecologist and is “still in and out of the doctor’s office.”

She has also since relocated to her present home in Orange County.

A new outlook

After this frightening and life changing ordeal, Bressler decided to rekindle an old love — writing.

Mindful Companion, A Guide to Survive Life, is the book that came out of her cancer journey.

It is somewhat of a guide to help people who are diagnosed with cancer.

For example, when Bressler was bald, she still went to the school to pick up her children.

“You have to make the best of it,” she said.

Bressler also said it changed her outlook on life itself.

“Now is all we have,” she said.

But why writing?

“I have a love for writing,” she said.

She has always written poetry and journaled while growing up.

“If I write it, maybe I could stop thinking about it,” she said. “Writing is a necessity.”

In fact, she’s already composed a companion book aimed at children, even designing a plushy to go along with the book. Financially, though, it’s not easy to get a book published.

She is hoping sales of her current book along with an online store she now operates can help in that part of the journey.

The store’s name goes right back to her roots: Bootjack Girl.

“I am Bootjack Girl all of the time,” said Bressler, noting her Instagram handle was just that well before this ordeal.

The store features all kinds of “merch,” she said, including necklaces, hats, stickers and more.

“Our family is very crafty,” she said.

One of the stickers says, “One Day at a Time,” obviously relating to her cancer journey.

She has a website, www.bootjackgirl.com where it’s all available, along with other information.

All of this also relates to some of the people she has met in her perilous journey.

One woman, she said, has been diagnosed as “triple negative,” and there is no cure.

“It is in her lungs,” she said. “She is not positive and it’s draining.”

But Bressler said she understands why someone would not be positive, adding it’s part of the journey, especially for those with that kind of diagnosis.

Her roots

One thing Bressler knows is the fact she grew up in Mariposa County has helped her in this journey.

“We have a good home life,” she said, including the fact people growing up here have to find ways to entertain themselves because it’s not like the concrete jungle where she now lives.

“We still rise above,” she said.

As the youngest child, Bressler also said having her older siblings, parents and extended family has been invaluable in this journey.

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.

In addition, she said having a strong family has shown her just how much it means when one of its members have to go through such a painful, and life threatening, ordeal.

“I’ve got the best seat in the house,” she said.

Asked what she would tell her family if she could have them all in front of her, Bressler’s answer, kind of like with her diagnosis, was to the point: “Love you.”

To purchase a copy of the book, you can visit Bressler’s website and it is also available on the major websites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.