My Inspiration To Inspire

So, I was thinking... (which can be awfully dangerous at times, lol) here I am, asking you all to share your stories and be an inspiration to others, but I haven't even exactly shared my own. So here's how I met Cancer:

Although I've never been personally diagnosed with any type of cancer, I've been repeatedly affected by cancer throughout my life. First, my great-grandmother succumbed to Breast Cancer at a young age. Then one of my grandmothers was diagnosed with breast cancer and only in remission for a year before it came back more aggressively and spread fataly throughout her body. My other grandmother, a two-time breast cancer survivor, was in remission for 17 years before it came back this year and I also lost my grandfather after a short battle with Kidney Cancer. Cancer was all around me but I still hadn't realized just how close until later.

I came home from school one day and my mother began talking about a lump in her breast, which I have to admit as a high school freshman, sounded pretty gross to me. I mean, seriously, what teenager wants to hear about, yet alone touch their mom's breast? Trying to muster up some sense of maturity, though, I shyly felt the area that she was directing me towards and found the tiny hard knot that was about the size of a bebe. I suggested to her that she go to the doctor and since I am her oldest daughter, I would go with her to keep her company, but she nonchalantly declined.

I left for The Army the February following high school graduation and while I was away at Basic Training, I received a letter informing me that my mother "was to have a surgery to have one of her breast and 40 lymph nodes removed" the week before my graduation. It had taken her 3 years but she had finally built the courage to go to the doctor. Although, the lump did grow over the 3 year period, it was no bigger than about the size of a quarter at the time it was removed. Lucky for us, the growth was slow and it hadn't spread to other parts of her body.

After 3 years, the cancer came back for a second round, and just like her mother's case, this time Phase 3 aggressive. With immediate treatment followed by surgery she was able to avoid sharing her mother's fate and has now been in remission for 9 years. See her personal story in Pink Letters.

As I stated before, I’ve never been diagnosed personally but given my family history, I can't help but feel like my day is coming. Until then, I will do all that I possibly can to spread the word and help those in need of funding for screening or treatment which is why I started this company.

Go to Pink Letters to share your story or Pink Angels to add a memorial for your loved one.