While decluttering an old notebook of classroom stuff, I ran across a CTA Women’s Caucus Newsletter I edited back in the Fall of 2009. It is just as relevant today, perhaps more so.
“Some of you know that I lost my mother to breast cancer this March. She had none of the usual risk factors — none of her relatives had had breast cancer, she exercised regularly, ate a healthy diet, and was not overweight. She hadn’t seen a doctor in over 25 years!
Nor did she believe in screening mammograms, and she was too busy living life to worry about that little lump in her breast…until it was way too late! Through a mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy, the doctors brought us six more glorious years with my mom. Long enough for her to dance at my daughter’s wedding, become a great-grandmother, and celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with my dad. But when the cancer came back with a vengeance, it attacked her bones and her liver, too, and there was no remission this time.
Please, PLEASE encourage the women you love to have regular mammograms, as well as breast self-exams. And if they find anything “not quite right”, see a doctor immediately. Their lives could depend on it!”