Heather Ausman is starting to feel like herself again.

When she looks in the mirror, she sees her hair coming back in and notices better color in her face.

Once so frail that her 12-year-old daughter could fit into her clothes, Ausman is getting back to a healthy weight.

And there’s another clue.

“I can actually tell when I start feeling better because I start to worry about all of the little things that I didn’t worry about before,” she said. “When my focus starts to shift to, ‘Oh my gosh, look at those dishes,’ or I start nitpicking my husband, then I know I must be feeling better.”

Ausman, 35, of Coupeville, likens how she’s feeling lately — and the fact that she’s alive — to somewhat of a miracle.

She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2010, and despite treatment and surgery, watched the disease resurface four times.

When the cancer spread to her lungs two years ago, advancing her disease to Stage IV, she continued to fight for her life and weathered long bouts of chemotherapy and life-threatening side effects that came with a compromised immune system.

She’s not sure why she’s still alive, uncertain whether to trace her existence to chemotherapy and radiation treatments, a mastectomy or endless prayers from friends and family in her adopted hometown of Coupeville and from other parts of the country.

But she is grateful beyond words to still be with her husband Josh and their three young daughters, Brooke, 12; Harlee, 10; and Josie, 8; and tries to make the most of each day.

It is her goal to live long enough to see her daughters have families of their own.

“She is probably the bravest woman I’ve ever known,” said Ausman’s mother, Susan Graham. “She’s gone through five years of cancer not knowing day-to-day if she was going to live or die and she was still maintaining her family. Throughout all this, she never let her family down.”

Ausman learned recently that, when doctors discovered a large tumor in her right breast five years ago, her life expectancy was only about a year.

Following chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, a bilateral mastectomy was performed and cancerous lymph nodes detected and removed.

Recurrences of cancer in her breast led to radiation treatment. Despite that, a tumor was found in one of Ausman’s lungs in 2013 and deemed inoperable.

Ausman continued months of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, which led to daily vomiting and significant weight loss, followed by breaks from chemo and intermittent periods of feeling better.

At one point last year, she was rushed to Whidbey General Hospital because she had trouble breathing and underwent a procedure to drain large amounts of fluid from sacs around her lungs. She spent two weeks in the intensive care unit.

“I pretty much thought I was going to die,” she said. “On the outside, I told everybody, ‘We’re going to beat this.’ I wanted to believe.”

Ausman went through nine months of chemotherapy, juggling motherhood while battling constant fatigue and sickness, along with frequent trips to the hospital.

“She’s been very strong. Like really strong,” Brooke Ausman said.

“She’s given me strength,” said Josh Ausman, who met his wife while both were stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

“I have the utmost respect for her,” Graham said. “I love her so much. God has been essential in our life. We’ve had prayers go out for her since her diagnosis and before that. We pray every day and I think God has done a miracle for her.”

Heather and her family got encouraging news from her oncologist at Whidbey General Hospital in August.

They learned that a positron emission tomography (PET) scan couldn’t detect any cancer cells in her body.

It’s the first time since 2010 that Ausman has heard a physician tell her those words.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Heather Ausman said. “Technically, I’m cancer free, and technically, the chances of it recurring are astronomically high.”

Off intravenous chemo treatment for two months, Ausman said she feels stronger every day. She still gets a smaller daily dose of chemotherapy through a pill.

Ausman said the ordeal changed her perspective on life and made her a better person. She tries not to sweat the small things and not get too stressed over heavy medical debt.

She is grateful for so much support and care and is driven to give back in some way.

“I feel like I’ve been afforded this second chance to live,” she said. “So many people prayed for me. So many people helped our family. I don’t want to be a disappointment to all those people who sat up at night and consciously said a prayer for me and thought about me.”