Strength in the family

Keri,

Your family shows such strength and courage. What a blessing that your mother did not have a diagnosis of cancer. You being strong for your family and giving your grandmother,aunt, and cousin support and encouragement is such a blessing. They are fortunate to have you in the family. You are right. We have to be strong for all surivors out there that might need our strength to get them through the day.

Amy

In 2008, my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was detected very early, so we knew she had a chance. She had a lumpectomy, and they discovered that they didn't get it all. So she went in for another lumpectomy. After that one they discovered once again, that they didn't get it all. They then gave her the option to try another lumpectomy, or to just have a mastectomy of her left breast. It was a long, difficult, decision for her, but she decided to go through with the mastectomy. Her surgery was 14 hours; it was the longest day of my life. It was hard to see all of my family there and just hoping that everything went OK. We got the news that she was OK, and we went back to see her in recovery. She was still waking up from the anesthesia, so she was a little groggy. I was talking to her and she seemed to be aware of what was going on. She then asked her nurse for some crackers and iced tea. She didn't have to go through chemo, or radiation afterwards. To this day, she still tells me that I am the first one she remembers seeing when she woke up from her surgery, and that makes me feel so good. Three months to the day, after my grandma was diagnoses, her daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was about to go through what my grandmother, her mom just went through. My aunt had a lumpectomy, and she also had to have chemo and radiation. She lost all of her hair, so she bought 2 wigs. She was afraid to show us her bald head and she didn't want her little grand babies to see her without hair either. One day we were at my grandma’s house for a visit and my aunt took off her wig, and I just looked at her in awe. She barely had any hair, but she was still as beautiful as ever. I knew that she took that wig off, not because she wanted to, but because she knew her hair was coming back; she was getting better. My cousin just had a breast cancer scare. She hadn't been in for a mammogram in a few years, but now that 2 women of our family had been diagnosed, she decided to go get one. All was clear. About 2 months ago I get a phone call from my dad, he tells me my mom has to go get checked for breast cancer because they found a lump. I am up at school, and my dad told me not to worry, that everything would be fine, but naturally, I was a wreck. That was all I could think about, and I couldn't wait to get home to see her. I went with her to the hospital they day she got re-checked, and they found that it wasn't cancer, it was just a mass and they are going to keep it under close watch. In all of the sadness, and devastating diagnoses in the past year or so, I would just like to say that I am strong. I am strong for my family, my loved ones, and also I am strong for every woman out there. This can come up on you when you least expect it, but if you just have hope, and believe that everything will be OK, then it will. You have to be strong, ALWAYS, because you never know who is watching and who might need a little bit of your strength to get them through the day.