Dear Friends and Family,
September 18th 2003 was a day that changed our family forever. That was the day my Mother in law was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I can’t say that cancer was new to our family but it had never been so blunt and in our faces as it was this time. My husband, his siblings and dad and the rest of the family jumped right in. We did research to find out how to support her, to find out what was to come, what kind of medical procedures and therapy she would need in the coming months. We sat in the waiting room at the hospital during biopsies and lumpectomies and port placements, my husband shaved his head after one of these procedures, we went to chemo with her and talked about being tattooed for radiation. We learned a lifetime of knowledge about Breast Cancer in just a few months.
In our quest to not only help my mother in law in what she needed day to day I also went on a quest to find something more. In my research I found the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I raised over $2000 of the required $1800 needed to walk a marathon in San Francisco that next July in her honor. It was one of the most wonderful weekends of my life. Since then I have participated in a total of 3 AWBC walks, made wonderful friends, wonderful memories and hopefully encouraged others to go to their mammograms and do their monthly self breast exams, and this year will be walking in TWO AWBC 39 mile walks! SF again in July and LA Beaches in September. More than just raising money for the cause, for the women and men who are facing breast cancer, my hope is to raise awareness. I hope that even if you choose not to donate this year you will gain some knowledge of how wide spread breast cancer is and what you know can change your life. Knowledge is POWER.
From the ACS website I found this that put into words much better than I, those affected just in 2007.
About 178,480 women in the United States will have been found to have invasive
breast cancer in 2007. About 40,460 women will have died from the disease. Right
now there are about two and a half million breast cancer survivors in the United
States.
Another profound statistic is that 1 in 8 women in the United states will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. 1 in 35 will die from it. Those are very scary statistics. Thankfully times are changing. The more educated we are as a society the more our likelihood of surviving is. If BC is found in its early stages the chances of survival at the 5 year mark are over 95%. That is amazing. Another amazing fact that rarely makes it to the forefront of even Breast Cancer news is that you don’t have to have a lump to have Breast Cancer. Inflammatory Breast Cancer kills so many women because it resembles a rash or bumps instead of "LUMPS’. So if there is anything irregular about your breasts it is so important see your doctor and request an ultrasound immediately. It may save your life.
If you would like to donate for find out more about the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer please go to my walk page at http://tinyurl.com/2fjmvo. This is a direct link to anything you may need to know about this organization and my dedication to this cause. The wonderful thing about AWBC is that over 78% of what I raise goes directly back out into the community for education, early diagnosis and treatment in the form of much needed grants. That gives me great confidence in this organization.
Tina Mickelson
AWBC walker 2004,1006, 2007
Relay for Life 2005, 2006, 2007
