October is breast cancer awareness month, and in that spirit I wish to share something a bit personal with you. I hope it inspires you to go get a mammogram that can save your life.
National Breast Cancer Awareness Site
The above link is to the National Breast Cancer Awareness Site. October is breast cancer awareness month, and in that spirit I wish to share something a bit personal with you:
My mother died of cancer when I was only seventeen, which started in her left breast which was removed when I was only ten years old. I watched her suffer through a depression because of the stigmatism associated with having a mastectomy. This was in the sixties, and it wasn't the same thirty five years ago as it is now as she didn't have access to what women have today. However, she did have me, and I spent many a night comforting her as she cried and I will never forget nor regret it. She was a one of a kind mother to me.
Above all of her hardship she was also a strong willed woman who tried so very hard to always have a smile on her face for everyone no matter how she was feeling inside, and was always doing something to help others. She suffered with and courageously fought the cancer for years before and after that operation... But even though she had the operation, it still managed to travel through her body until eight years later she finally succombed to carcinomatosis (bone cancer.) She suffered through the pain, chemotherapy, loss of weight and hair, and depression like the woman I knew her as: Strong, beautiful, and bloody determined to not give in to the despicable enemy that was ravaging her body. It was the most horrible ordeal I ever had to endure because I felt so helpless at my young age to help her beyond the comfort I could give her, and because she wasn't just my mother, she was my friend, my sister, my mentor, and my heart.
Her death hit me harder than anything I have ever experienced before or since. At seventeen the world was open to me, and I wanted to share all of the joys of my teen years going into womanhood by being able to huddle close with her to talk about all of the things close mothers and daughters always talk about... including the young man whom I had met and was falling in love with and would later marry. But I never got the chance to do that. I never got the chance to have her hug me at my high school or college graduations... or see me get married... or see my first child... or comfort me and give me advice through any of the hard times I have had as a woman. And how I missed that so very much.
So if you are a daughter who loves your mother, don't just ask her to get a mammogram, you DEMAND IT. You tell her she is your life, and that she needs to take care of her own. Hound her until she gets so sick of hearing your voice that she does it. I wish I had my mother with me here today to see the smart and handsome young man her grandson has grown into... but I know she sees him, and I now will do all in my power to take care of myself so that I will be alive to hopefully see my grandchild someday. And that can all happen by just getting this one test.
It is almost thirty years since her death, and I still miss her more than words can say. She was my inspiration in life. And because of her always telling me to not let this despicable, evil, lying, cheating disease get me, I get my mammogram every year, and will be going again later this year.
PLEASE, make an appointment for your mammogram and your mom's, especially if you or she are over forty. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but it is worth it to save your life or the life of someone you love. There are no words to express how important this is for women, and there is nothing left to say except, DO IT. Now.
Love you, mom.