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’m walking and why I’m raising money – to end breast cancer forever.

I have a mammogram every year. I go to the imaging department at my local hospital, strip off my top, put on that "attractive" gown that never seems to close correctly and then get my boobs squished.  Make next year's appointment as I leave and forget about it until next year.  

Except, in 2023, it didn't go as planned.  Something was in my right breast. I was called back for another mammogram and an ultrasound.  Damn!  It was still there. It wasn't a shadow or a wrinkle.  It was a damned tumor!  Next up, the biopsy.  Since I am not one to wait around, three days later I logged into my healthcare portal and read the results:  cancerous tumor.  F*CK!!  That's not supposed to happen to me. There is no history of breast cancer in my family.  

Turns out, it doesn't matter.  After returning from a long-planned vacation, I returned to have a lumpectomy, removal of a couple of lymph nodes and then waited for my onco score.  My luck continued.  My score was a few points above the suggested range, and I GOT TO DO CHEMO!  Will the fun never stop?  I had a port inserted into my chest and soon afterward started a summer of chemo.  I started losing my hair right around my July birthday and was bald soon afterward.  Chemo kept me close to home where I slept for days on end, my tastebuds disappeared as did my appetite and my energy was gone.  I finished chemo at the end of August, was told to recover in September and started a month of daily radiation (except weekends) in October.  Happily, I was declared cancer-free at Christmas.

In July of 2024, two of my best friends of our four-person BFF group, were diagnosed within two weeks of each other.  Now, I got to be the cheerleader while my friends went through surgery and one through radiation. Luckily, neither needed chemo.

I'm finally feeling like my old self.  They say it takes a full year to recover, to get the toxins out of your system.  As I said, I'm impatient so it's been hard.  And now I get to do something about it.  As a woman in her early 60's, I'm going to start training to walk one day and 20 miles.  I am going to start to get stronger, lose the weight I somehow gained through treatment and then continue walking as I plan travel to bucket-list places.

I'm looking for Breast Friends to join me on this walk or to support the cause financially.  Please consider registering for my team, Breast Friends Forever (BFF), or making a donation.

Together, we can make breast cancer not so scary as funds collected will help researchers find a cure.

Will you be my BFF?