BRENTWOOD — A former UC Berkeley police officer hailed a hero after she helped rescue kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard nearly six years ago is now battling a personal struggle of her own.

Doctors diagnosed 39-year-old Allison “Ally” Jacobs with Stage 2 breast cancer in March.

“When they told me I tested positive, this howl came out of me. I couldn’t even hear what they were saying. Your mind goes blank,” said the mother of two boys, 9-year-old Jake and 11-year old Justin.

A self-exam at home led to the discovery. The lumps did not show up on a mammogram, but a subsequent ultrasound and MRI found three masses, said Jacobs who has no history of breast cancer in her family.

She quickly opted for chemo, has been undergoing the treatment for the past month and plans to continue it through October.

Jacobs’ gut instincts helped lead to the 2009 capture of Phillip Garrido, the man who kept Dugard captive for 18 years at his home near Antioch. Jacobs first encountered Dugard’s kidnapper and two young girls on the university’s campus, became suspicious, and her efforts led to the freeing of Dugard and her two children. A year later, Jacobs suffered an on-duty injury and in April 2013 she took a disability retirement.

Since her diagnosis, Jacobs’ close friend Robin Matthews, a retired inspector from the San Francisco Police Department, created a GoFundMe page to help offset her medical costs because she doesn’t have full medical coverage.

“Ally has never been one to ask for help,” Matthews said. “She’s very independent. I think it comes from being a cop. We’re used to taking care of other people and not thinking of ourselves.”

Unbeknown to Jacobs, Matthews set the donation site up and kept it under wraps until right before she launched it.

One of the larger bills that she will face is for reconstructive surgery which will have to be paid out-of-pocket, as her insurance does not contract with the surgeons that her doctor wants her to use.

As of Wednesday, the site had raised more than half of the requested $20,000.

“Everyone who knows me knows I don’t accept help let alone charity, even when I need it,” Jacobs said. “I feel uncomfortable because this is my problem not anyone else’s. But it’s too stressful to think about finances when you go through this and the fact I don’t have to think about this while I go through this is so helpful. God bless her.”

Jacobs said that because they caught the disease early enough, her prognosis is good.

Regardless, between the treatment, doctors appointments and being a single mom, carting her sons to their baseball games and to the orthodontist, Jacobs said she’s exhausted. But she’s ready for battle.

“I’m not going to fight this cancer,” she said Wednesday. “I’m going to murder it.”

To donate visit http://www.gofundme.com/uk9p68.

Contact Natalie Neysa Alund at 510-293-2469. Follow her at Twitter.com/nataliealund.