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.
Warm Regards,
Bridget McGee Maryland Mortgage Mama NMLS# 196068 Corridor Mortgage Group. 410-960-2061 EHO bmcgee@corridormtg.com or marylandmortgagemama@gmail.com
If you are considering purchasing a home in Maryland and want to be sure you are mortgage ready, my brother Tony and I will be happy to help! We help to make the mortgage process a pleasure!
If you already own your home, we are happy to provide a no-cost mortgage review to help you to determine if refinancing may be in your best interest. Please contact me at 410-960-2061.
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.
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.
Bridget,
I just posted about a local Race for the Cure in Orange County. Yeah Cancer does suck. Not just for the ones who have it but also for their loved ones who have to see them suffer. Let's just hope in our lifetime they will find some type of cure for it.
Hi Suzette-I appreciate your sentiment but I please understand I don't have cancer, my neighbor does and many family members have died from it. It has definitely affected me greatly and I am doing everything I can to ensure that I don't get it, or if (and with my history, likely when) I get a diagnosis, it will be early enough to deal with.
I am sorry to hear about your parents, 56 is so young! There are so many things I wish I could ask mine about...I do believe that they know what is going on with me and I do all I can to make them proud. Keep the faith.
Christi, Thanks for your post for the CA race. It is important to spread the word! It is amazing that this race started as a "promise between two sisters", and has grown to what it has! I want to do whatever I can so that not another sister, brother, mother, father, son or daughter needs to watch a loved one suffer with this disease.
Are you walking, running, or volunteering?
Best of luck with your fight...Stay positive, it is mind over matter a lot of the time.
Cancer Sucks!