Mike And Tricia’s Pink Ribbon Week – Why It Means So Much To Me

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the United States. That being said, there are 2.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States today.  My youngest sister, Laura, is one of them.

Laura turned 45 on September 23rd, one day before I turned 47. She is the light of my life and always has been. So when she was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer last year, I was devastated.

She usually gets her annual ob-gyn exam done in the summer, but last summer, she got her gall bladder taken out and my nephew also had some medical situations that needed to be attended to.  It was November before she got around to getting her mammogram. She got a call from her doctor that there was a spot they wanted to see on another mammogram. She ended up getting two more before they diagnosed the spot as a cancerous tumor.

Thank God it was caught early.  Strangely enough, if she had gone in the summer as she normally does, the mammogram might not have picked up the spot. She underwent a lumpectomy and a round of radiation that left her weak and burned, but healthy. She is doing so much better now, thank God.

I can’t tell you enough – please, please, please, get your annual exams done. Get a baseline mammogram when you are 40, or whenever your doctor recommends it. My beautiful sister is proof positive that early detection is the best prevention against breast cancer.

We would love to hear your breast cancer story. Please tell us what you have done to help, heal, or survive this disease. Email your story to mike@ksii.com, and please attach a few photos. It is our hope that your story will give people who are fighting the fight what they need most - hope.