I am proud to be teaming up with TaSTy WordGasms and Team #FightLikeAGirl for the #BooksForBoobs event. ***ALL OF THE PROCEEDS FROM MY BOOK SALES FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER WILL BE DONATED TO MAKING STRIDES FOR BREAST CANCER***
Please show your support in the form of a donation. All donations will be entered to win one of the many generous gifts offered by the talented authors participating. #BooksForBoobs #SaveTheTaTas
Team Donation Page:
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/FightLikeAGIrl17
Facebook Books For Boobs Event Link
Links to my books on Amazon:
I Am ShelbyJames
I Am The Muse Poet
Reflecting Roni
Why I care…
Three years ago I went for my bi-annual mammogram and expected everything to be fine, like most women do. A week before my vacation, I received a call from the doctor’s office telling me that I needed further testing. I went on vacation, with some amazing friends and my husband, they all did a great job of keeping my mind off of things. I returned home from vacation on my birthday and the very next day I went in for a needle biopsy of my left breast. The results showed there were suspicious cells and my doctor ordered a surgical biopsy.
On September 11, 2014 I underwent a surgical biopsy. The surgeon removed a 4 cm piece of tissue from my left breast and I was told to wait a few days for the results. Everyone assured me it was nothing. They were wrong, it was not nothing. I was diagnosed with Lobular Carcinoma in Situ (LCIS) and Atypical Lobular Hyperplasia (ALH), both are precancerous conditions. Luckily for me, my doctor is vigilant, as is her staff. Although I had a mammogram 6 months earlier, they made sure I returned for a follow up. Because of the early detection, my doctor was able to remove the cells and essentially keep them from turning into full blown cancer.
Now, three years later, I go every 6 months for mammograms, ultrasounds and MRI’s. My risk level for a breast cancer diagnosis is 27% higher than the average woman and quite frankly, that scares the shit out of me. I do not have breast cancer in my family so it was never a fear of mine, that all changed. The breast doctor sent me to an oncologist to learn about preemptive chemotherapy and shit got real! My choices were 1) do nothing and get cancer. 2) Get on a chemo protocol and hope that I don’t end up getting ovarian cancer while fighting the breast cancer. 3) Or be vigilant. Go for testing every 6 months and do monthly self examinations. I chose option 3. Any changes in my breasts are an immediate alert to call the doc.
So you see, I am not raising money for the faceless many that will struggle with the disease. I am raising money to continue the research that will hopefully help me to remain breast cancer free. Please, read my story, and take action to protect yourself. Do month exams. Get your annual or biannual mammograms and follow the advice given by your doctors. Too many women and men die from breast cancer because it goes undiagnosed.
If you are able, please reach into your pockets and give a donation. No amount is too great or too small. Every dollar helps us get a little bit closer to ending the deaths of thousands every year.
I wear my cape with PRIDE in the crusade to end breast cancer!
Breast Cancer Facts and Figures
HOW YOUR SUPPORT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
More than $62 Million are currently invested in breast cancer research grants.
In 2016, we provided more than 335,000 rides to and from treatment.
Last year patient navigators helped guide nearly 45,000 patients through the health care system.
More than 11,000 one-on-one support services were provided to breast cancer patients in 2016.
More than 36,000 women learned how to manage the appearance-related side effects of treatment.
You are an amazing woman to have been able to fight your prognosis and come out on the other side with a smile and the drive to fight for not only yourself but also the many other faceless victims of this deadly disease. I myself have been through the horror of having to face my own mortality and it scared me shitless, but in the end I was one of the very few that got the winderful news that what was found was not cancerous but only a cyst, I was finally able to breath again. But cyst or not I now have to get tested every year and self examine myself monthly. I am still very much aware of my mortality and live in fear that one month I am going to find a lump again, or my yearly exam is going to find something other then a cyst. I am terrified daily by these realities, because now not only am I at higher risk then others just because of the cyst but, apon digging through my family history out to 5 generations on both sides there have been more then 3 deaths that we know of from breast cancer, and even more from overion cancer and uterine cancer. So in closing this long winded comment LOL
I wanted to applaud you for speaking out about your own struggles, and showing your strength and will to keep fighting. So keep on FIGHTING LIKE A WOMEN!!!
Felicity, thank you for your kind words and Thank goodness yours were only cysts. I’ve been fundraising for breast cancer for coming on 20years I think. I have in-laws that have list their fights with breast and ovarian cancer so it’s truly a personal mission for me, regardless of my own prognosis. Women should not still be dying from this disease in this day and age.
Please continue your yearly exams. Early diagnosed is literally the difference between life and death.
Much respect, Brooke