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It Could Never
Happen to Me
by Laura, 28 yrs
It’s hard to look in the mirror and see what I see. I shouldn’t look
like this at my
age
. Yet, I do. I grew up with
the healthiest hair and wasn’t prom queen, but I was highly regarded
as pretty just a few years ago. Now, I am losing my hair and
diagnosed with this thing called breast cancer.
I didn’t know how I could be diagnosed
with such a disease. No woman in my family for generations on end
had been diagnosed with breast cancer. So, how is it that it just
comes up out of the blue? I remember that day so clearly and the
thought of breast cancer just didn’t seem to register well with me.
I was taking my morning shower and that’s
when I found it. At first I remember thinking this can’t be so that
it was just a hallucination. It’s like when everyone has chicken pox
and you have had them, but you swear you were getting them all over
again. I still went to my family doctor and with a mammogram; they
found the same lump that I had felt. With a biopsy, they confirmed that it was cancerous.
Since they caught it in the early stages,
I would be fine they told me. Yet, each treatment a woman with
breast cancer goes through, it takes a toll on her body. I remember
how weary I became. The road to recovery was daunting. I met at the
same place for the same treatment for weeks on end. I just had to
make it through this, but I knew that even if I went through this,
it wasn’t a guarantee that I would be cured.
The day of the tests drew near. They were going to examine me
again to see if the treatments had worked. The treatments for this
were as rough emotionally as they were physically. But they had rid
my body of the thing they called breast
cancer.
I’m happy to be telling you
about this today. Yet, each year when I have to go back for yet
another check up to make sure that the pesky cancer hasn’t come
back, I fear the worst. I have learned though, that you can
be a survivor even when your opponent is breast
cancer!
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A Life Put On Hold
by Deidre, 32 yrs
I was a health nut in
my late twenties and early thirties. I wanted children and I wanted
the nice home with the white picket fence. I watched what I ate. I
exercised and took my vitamins. There were a few things that I had
to worry about as I talked with my doctor about my family history.
Not too many though. Then, there was a minor set back. I say minor
to tell myself that it wasn’t anything major.
I
was engaged and planning baby names even though I wasn’t pregnant. I
went in for the physical that I needed to get in order to get
married. Then, I decided to get the check up that every woman should
have. They gave me a pap smear and then they did a mammogram. I
wanted to make sure that I was clear every which way so that Jordan
and I could begin having children and our children would turn out
healthy. The mammogram turned up something. There was a lump. I was
scared.
Two days later I was
going through surgery so they could remove some of the lump and do a
biopsy on it. I fully remember getting the call to say that it was
indeed cancer. They caught it early on which was a good thing, but
the wedding had to be put on hold. Children were put on hold and
maybe even out of the question. I had to change my life for
something that I didn’t even want.
The chemotherapy took
everything I had. That didn’t work for me. I had to trust something
else. I had to trust that the radiation that was next would be
enough for me. After I finished my radiation, they had one last
thing they could do to rid my breasts of the infection. They had to
cut out what was left of the breast cancer. They found more than
they bargained for and had to end up removing my whole left breast.
I could manage without one breast. I just wanted my life back. I had
to give up many things like a figure and my hair not to mention my
appetite. I wasn’t about to have to give up anything else.
I was glad that
Jordan
stuck by me. In
celebration of surviving breast cancer, Jordan and I got married
three years after my diagnosis. You can’t really prepare yourself
for such a diagnosis. Sometimes you can’t even prevent your body
from getting some things. You just have to fight back and continue
to celebrate your life.
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Together we can make a
difference.... we can change the world....
for the mothers, grandmothers,
sisters,
daughters and friends whom we
love....
we will not give up till the battle is won
& the cure is
found!
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