In a day—yesterday—I learned of two more women diagnosed with breast cancer. First was former Married with Children and current Samantha Who? actress Christina Applegate. A young woman, just 36 years old, and already cancer has descended upon her, like it did me when I was 34. The second, a friend of my mom's friend, who happens to be surviving breast cancer herself—it's been one year since she had a mastectomy following a diagnosis of Paget's disease. One in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer nowadays. I guess it's no surprise then that I'm notified of cases like these so often.
Both women mentioned above are apparently doing fine. Applegate's spokesperson says she caught her cancer early and is expected to make a full recovery. My mom's friend's friend just had surgery and will begin treatment soon. I wish them both the best as they embark on their journeys.
Photo courtesy of savethetatas.com.
Hello!
I found your blog while looking up resources for breast cancer patients, and thought you might be interested in a woman who’s taken a pretty unique path in her own cancer battle. Meg Gaffney is a nurse, and when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided to skip chemotherapy and radiation, and go right to a bilateral mastectomy. But when her plastic surgeon recommended a skin graft surgery to build up new nipples, she decided to incorporate art into her own personal healing process.
For Meg, that means getting nipples tattooed onto her body instead of the graft surgery, and now — after months of searching for an artist willing to take on her challenge — she’s about to get the work done!
We’re 8 parts into a documentary on Meg, which is featured on GrowingBolder.com. I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what you think!
http://growingbolder.com/media/health/cancer/confronting-cancer-part-8-181742.html
Meg is dynamic, creative, and completely committed to ridding the world of cancer, and her spirit is contagious.
Thanks for your time, and best luck in your own journey!
(by the way — I love that you are pushing your body so hard … what an inspiration! We have several cancer survivors-turned triathletes featured on our Web site, including former WESH-TV anchor Wendy Chioji — please let me know if you’d like a “tour” of some of those stories!)
Katy Widrick
Executive Producer, GrowingBolder.com
katy@growingbolder.com
407-362-8237
Hello,
My name is Justin Guild and I'm a graduate research assistant currently working with Dr. Jeong-Nam Kim (http://www.cla.purdue.edu/communication/people/jnkim.shtml) at Purdue University on a health communication study.
Specifically, our research explores how information sharing behavior through online communities (such as blogs and discussion groups) influences coping strategies among people with chronic conditions including cancer, diabetes, depression, etc.
I'm contacting you to seek permission to place a link to our online web survey on your blog to invite readers and other visitors to participate. The survey is purely academic in nature and takes no longer than 5-7 minutes to complete.
The web survey can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.createsurvey.com/c/70237-Os3LDl/
The findings of this study could lead to better management capacities of chronic diseases as well as an increase in funding for research related to online communities.
If you have any questions, or would like additional information, please don't hesitate to contact me at jguild@purdue.edu.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Justin Guild
Hi I’m Shelby recently my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer the docters belive they caught it early but i still am scared she’ll lose her life even thought they say it’s only stage 1 or 2 is there still a chance my mom could die from this?
Hi Jacki, I check your blog from time to time and was excited to see I got a shout out along with Christina Applegate. I feel famous. As you said it’s been a year now since my bilateral mastectomy. I feel great and very fortunate to be alive and well. You have been such an inspiration and a great resource for me and so many others. I want you to know I appreciate you and your wonderful family. Keep up the good work!