Please support me as I commit to an incredible challenge. The Susan G. Komen 3-Day is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. It will be hard, but it's not as hard as breast cancer. It's not as hard as chemo. It's not as hard as getting bad news at your latest scan. It's not as hard as saying goodbye. And that's why I know I have to do this. That's why I commit. That's why I'm walking and why I'm raising money - to end breast cancer.
This November, it’s been 12 years since my breast cancer diagnosis lit a fire within me. A fire to fight; to survive; to tell my story; to help others; to pay it forward. Every. Single. Day.
Publicly, sharing your story is daunting to many people. It is empowering for me. It puts cancer in its place. Everyone has a cancer story. If telling my story helps just one person, then it's worth it. It is all worth it. To anyone facing a cancer diagnosis, tell your story. Tell one person. Tell a friend. Tell a stranger. Tell me. Tell 10 people. Tell 10,000 people. Just tell it. Telling your story disarms cancer from being something sacred or secret and puts the power back in your hands. It also introduces you to all us survivors out there. We are here and we can't wait to meet you.
Few, if any, people with cancer set out to be an inspiration to others. It is amazing how sharing your story actually inspires people. Having people call you an inspiration is a humbling experience--it lifts you gives you a reason to fight through the dark times. Telling your story can be the one thing that gets others through the night. It can be an awesome feeling when something good can come out of something so terrible.
I never get tired of telling my story. 4 Words--
It all started on October 26, 2011-10 days after my 30th high school reunion. I went for my annual exam. Ten minutes into the visit, my gynecologist said, You have a lump (4 words). Thirty minutes later, I was having a mammogram (a month before my regularly scheduled one) and an ultrasound. An hour later, the technician took me into a room and put me on the phone with my doctor, who said, We found something suspicious (4 words), and to find a surgeon and schedule a biopsy ASAP. Six days later, I had a biopsy, and on November 4, 2011, my world turned upside down when I heard, You have breast cancer (4 words). I was 48 years old.
Part of my story involves how and where I received my diagnosis. I am a lobbyist for a financial services company, and the day after my biopsy, I traveled to Washington, D.C., on a business trip. As every cancer patient knows, the thing you crave most is normalcy. While I didn't yet know that I was a cancer patient, I craved normalcy and the thought of sitting at home; waiting for the results was unbearable to me. I was in a meeting room with about 75 people when my cellphone started ringing, and I could see it was the surgeon's office. I made it out to the lobby where the diagnosis was delivered. It was as if all of the air had left the building. All I wanted to do was to get back to my room to call my Mom. I held it together until she picked up the phone, and I burst into tears. I felt like a child who falls off her bike and doesn't cry until she gets home to Mom.
I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, stage 2B. I had a lumpectomy a week before Thanksgiving. My margins were not clean, and I had node involvement. I chose to have a single mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, and I've never regretted that decision. The surgery was 4 days before Christmas. I had 8 rounds of chemo. I lost all of my hair and started reconstruction during chemo. I finished treatment on May 2, 2012 -You are a survivor (4 words)-and had reconstructive surgery later that summer with the final surgery that fall. I recently finished taking Letrazole after 5 years and after 5 years of Tamoxifen. I still have neuropathy in my feet, but it is gone from my hands.
I have met the most incredible people on this journey I never signed up for. I am proud to be a survivor. I feel blessed every day. My fellow survivors thrivers are the bravest people I have ever met. They give me hope and courage every day. I will hit the 12 year survivorship mark on November 4th. Some days, it feels like yesterday, and other days, it feels like a lifetime ago. Some days, I scratch and claw my way through, but most days I just feel incredibly lucky.
We must continue to fund the research that will eventually eradicate this monster. Together we can, and will, lift the veil on this horrendous disease. Together, we are stronger than cancer. Life changes in an instant. I really have no other words. I will NEVER stop telling my story and I will NEVER stop fighting for a cure.
Final 4 words--GO LIVE YOUR LIFE
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