Rock Hard......

This is my Mom's story of her mother. I published this blog a few months ago, but thought it was worth reposting in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (By the way she will kill me for putting her picture on the blog - she is beautiful she just never believes it!)

Rock Hard. What Would You Do?

She looked in the  bathroom mirror…..

She felt her breast…..

Please….No…..

She had throat cancer 10 years ago and lost her voice….

She does not need this right now.

Her daughter just had her second child.

She needs her mother here.

This is when you need your Mom the most. When you have kids of your own.

She feels her breast again. The breast is hard as a rock. She knows what this means in her heart of hearts.

She starts crying. She calls her 18 year old daughter into the bathroom. Still a baby herself, so much to learn, a new mom herself.

She shows her daughter and tells her someday she will be grateful for her daughter. She is…… and wishes she could watch her daughter grow into the great mother she knows she will be and already is…… But she knows it is too late for that. 

She knows she has to be at peace with this. She does not want to make this any harder on her kids. 

This is the story of my Grandmother who passed away when I was 3 years old from breast cancer. My Mom was 19. My Grandmother was 53 years young. By the time my Grandmother faced what she was afraid was true her cancer was too far advanced. She lived with us another 6 months and was cared for by my Mother, who was a new wife and mother of 2 herself. In that time my Grandmother also said goodbye to her husband, my Grandfather. She followed him 6 months later.

This story I have heard growning up from my Mother and it has had a profound effect on both her and I. We are very close. Breast cancer screening was not done, talked about or cared about in those days. We live in a time where we have been educated on breast cancer in both men and women and what to do to self screen for it. 

Please make sure you learn how to self exam for breast cancer (men this applies to you to!). This is one site you can learn: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam

I also have a friend and neighbor, Kelly Kashmer, a breast cancer survivor,  who has an amazing story herself and has decided from her experience to help women get the genetic testing they need through her organization: http://nothingpink.org

Be sure to check out her story and both websites above. Never be embarrased to ask if you are not sure! Have it checked.

Blessings

April of Running Mom Photography