If you are like me, you have been affected deeply by the "Big C". When a doctor asks me about my family history, they need an extra sheet of paper. Both of my parents died very young, my mother died of colon cancer at 51, and my father of stomach cancer at 61. Breast cancer took two maternal aunts and my cousin Larry (yes, that is a boy's name, men get breast cancer!). Leukemia, bone cancer, skin cancer and probably others have been represented. I have cousins that before age 30 had lumps and polyps removed, and an uncle that gets melanoma's removed every 6 months or so.
As you might imagine, I have been getting regular check ups, getting my first mammogram at 25, and my first colonoscopy (they aren't as bad as you think, stop putting it off) at 36. My husband is in the military, so I was even blessed to be part of a study of new technology called a T-Scan that has been instrumental in diagnosing breast cancer at younger and younger ages, and earlier and earlier stages (the earlier it is diagnosed, the more likely the cure). Hopefully, it will be widely available soon.
In November of last year, my friend Coleen (who happens to be my next door neighbor) was diagnosed with breast cancer at 31. She is the mother of 2 boys Matt (2 1/2) and Nick (1 1/2). Within 2 weeks of her diagnosis. she had a mastectomy, then went through 7 months of radiation and chemo. She is getting a weekly treatment that she will have to do for the next 6 months, and will be on Tamoxifin (sp?) for 5 years. The wierd thing is that about 2 weeks before her diagnosis, we walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. When I found out about her diagnosis, I told that she must have liked the pink shirts better (The survivors wear pink in the Race for the Cure). You have to find the humor in a horrid situation.
We are walking this year as a part of the Young Survivor's Team, Coleen will wear pink. If you would like to donate to a great cause, please visit my donation page at www.kmd2007rftc.kintera.org/bmcgee. Get out there and walk, run, do something. Even better...get a regular check up, follow your instincts, and don't take "we'll just watch it to see if it goes away" for an answer, insist on a follow up, it will save your life! Tell your sister, tell your brother, your mother, your friends, your doctor's...young women get breast cancer.
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Sorry to hear your terrible luck with cancer. Display it on your license plate H8CNCR. I wish you the best of luck and keep your head up.