Zoraida Narvaez is a LCSW currently working as a school counselor. She is the mom of three and lives with her husband  Sergeant Major Alex Narvaez (Ret) in Pensacola, Florida.

“We met the Kropp Family through a crazy set of circumstances and knew that we were destined to become friends for life. We shared our children’s interests and sports teams. Michael and my husband Alex spent many hours talking about military life and the paths of our children as they navigate life in the military.

Since Michael’s diagnosis in 2012, I understood the impact cancer has on the whole family. It takes a village to navigate the cancer battle keeping everyone positive and optimistic while addressing the scary realities cancer brings. Since the conception of Big Mike’s Bottom Line, I have learned about the cancer continuum and the need for more patient education. Not all doctors come to a diagnosis armed with the same tools and information, but the process can be so overwhelming that patients and their families do not know where to turn. Finding the right partnership must be a priority for the greatest opportunity for success. As a board member, I hope that I can support the vision of Big Mike’s Bottom Line – alleviate, communicate, and educate. If we can help just one more family understand the colorectal landscape just a little more clearly, we will have been successful. We must start somewhere. Keeping in mind that the age of our military family is between 20-49, this is a perfect place to start. We must do more to educate how preventable CRC can be. The cost of not doing anything is just too high.”