Bridget Bahl’s Breast Cancer Journey Is a Story of Hope

May is National Women’s Health Month, and The Bar founder is using her platform to encourage women to check their breasts.

Bridget Bahl | Courtesy of Gabe Araujo

Deciding to start a family should have been one of the most exciting times of Bridget Bahl’s life. Instead, while undergoing her sixth round of IVF treatments in the fall of 2024, the content creator and entrepreneur was diagnosed with Stage 2, HER2-positive breast cancer.

Bahl discovered a lump during a self-breast exam, which she brought to the attention of her fertility doctor. He immediately sent her for imaging, and Bahl’s mammogram and sonogram revealed a large mass in her right breast, which her doctor biopsied the same day. 

“ I found [my lump] through self-exam, but when I found it, it was already bigger than the size of a golf ball,” Bahl, who has no family history of breast cancer, tells SI Swimsuit. “It was so deep in my breast and I have dense breast tissue, so it was really hard [to detect].”

While she thought maybe the lump was a cyst that had formed as a side effect of her IVF treatments, Bahl learned she had breast cancer—which had spread to a nearby lymph node—the day after her biopsy.

Bridget Bahl | Courtesy of Gabe Araujo

Since revealing her diagnosis to her Instagram followers on Sept. 22, 2024, Bahl has undergone radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and on Tuesday, May 19, she had her last active cancer treatment. Bahl, founder of lifestyle brand The Bar, has documented her cancer journey every step of the way. She has shared everything with her 1.8 million Instagram followers, from her medically induced menopause to the beautiful support system she has in her husband, Dr. Michael Chiodo. It’s a choice, she says, that she hopes makes people feel less alone, no matter what challenges they’re facing in life.

“Everyone’s going through something, and I feel like a lot of people felt seen in what they’re going through, even if it’s not cancer,” Bahl says. “Life’s not perfect, and everyone has their own cross to bear. We’re all dealing with something, and I think it makes a lot of people just feel less alone in what they’re going through.”

Purposeful storytelling

Bahl regularly receives messages from fans who have caught their breast cancer early thanks to her advocacy work, which she says has given her an immense sense of purpose. Her No. 1 hope in sharing her story is to encourage women to conduct regular breast self-exams, as doing so could save their lives. “ I did find this myself, and I can’t stress enough how important it is ... to check your girls,” she says.

And if you do find something during a breast self-exam, bring it to the attention of your doctor immediately, Bahl urges. 

Bridget Bahl | Courtesy of Thomas McCarty

“One of the biggest issues is we feel something, and then we don’t make the appointment because we’re scared,” she says. “And it’s just one of those situations where if you book the appointment and it’s scary, but you go, like, there’s no part of this that finding it out sooner isn’t helpful. It’s scary, but ... you could save your life by finding it earlier. So it’s super important to just make the appointment.”

Another message Bahl hopes to get through to her massive following? Choose your life partner wisely. She and Chiodo had been married for just over a year when she was diagnosed, which Bahl jokes “ really put [him] to the test.”

Bridget Bahl and Michael Chiodo | Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

“ I just feel incredibly, incredibly grateful, and I feel like I chose very wisely,” Bahl says of her husband. “So I’m now sort of advocating to other women, like this is a really big choice, please choose wisely, and if you don’t, please choose again. It’s just really important because stuff is gonna happen in life, and you need a good partner who’s gonna be there for you. I feel really beyond words grateful for that.”

Looking ahead to the future

Now that she’s feeling better physically, Bahl is getting ready to tackle the mental aspect of her cancer journey and is planning to undergo EMDR therapy to process her grief. 

“There’s been a little bit of a mental hurdle coming back because I think I’m learning like when you’re so sick, you’re kind of just only dealing with the physical part of it ... there’s a little bit of a mental battle ahead,” Bahl explains. She later continues, “ I think that when something like this does happen, you just get really scared and lose trust in your own body. I’m kind of working out like, wait, what did I do to make that happen? And how can I make sure it doesn’t happen again? But also ... there’s like a whole survivor’s guilt kind of thing that comes along with surviving cancer. You kind of don’t always allow yourself to feel all of the feelings, because you’re like, I should just be so happy that I’m alive.”

Bahl says her breast cancer journey has completely changed her outlook on life, and she’s no longer as hard on herself as she used to be. While going to the gym used to be a chore, she can’t wait to get back into a fitness routine when she’s ready. 

“The things we complain about are such blessings,” Bahl says. “And I just think that mindset shift for me has been such a huge win and a big opportunity for me.”

As far as The Bar, Bahl is looking forward to bringing back “the heart and soul” of the brand through ready to wear offerings and gathering her community together with live events. She and Chiodo are resuming their family planning, and on a recent episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Bahl revealed she and her husband have found a surrogate. 

Bridget Bahl | Courtesy of The Bar

“ One thing a nurse wrote into my phone one day was, ‘this is not your forever.’ And I really needed that then,” Bahl says. “Someone else told me to kind of just zoom in a little bit and get through one day at a time, but sometimes it’s even one hour at a time. And I think that really helped me to not go down a bad path and just kind of try to get through the day or the hour, and then over time you get there. This is not your forever.”

Something else that helped Bahl throughout her cancer journey was checking in with herself and doing her best to maintain a positive outlook.

“One thing I said to myself after every chemo treatment was, ‘What's the best thing that could happen?’” Bahl shares. “ I beat it, and I’ve been able to help other people go in and get their exams, and so, I guess the best thing that could happen did happen. I feel really lucky.”

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