My breast cancer friend Adriene -- who I wrote about on May 19 -- e-mailed me today about a friend of a friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. This friend -- Jen -- is 31 years old and just yesterday had a lumpectomy. Adriene asked if I could be in touch with Jen since, like her, I am young and I am a breast cancer survivor and I had a lumpectomy. So far, we are somewhat alike. And depending on the results of Jen's pathology report, we may be even more alike -- if she follows a path anything like mine that included chemotherapy and radiation therapy and Herceptin therapy -- or our paths might diverge from one another. Regardless, I feel a connection to this woman, much like I do with anyone with cancer whose path I cross, anyone who is sent my way, anyone who finds me for the sole purpose of support.
So I told Adriene in my return e-mail, "Yes, I will contact Jen." And I have already sent her an e-mail. And I hope when she reads it that she finds a trace of comfort, a hint of encouragement, a glimpse of hope that can somehow transform scared souls into confident spirits. I hope that she emerges from under the rock of breast cancer. Like I did. Like Adriene did.
1. Sad as it might be, a good portion of the medical community doesn't pay heed to the complaints of younger women who develop breast problems. Some of them are not cancer but quite enough are. Considering the breast cancer is almost an epidemic, more and more younger women and men are showing up with breast cancers and one of the complaints I've gotten is that the doctors don't pay enough attention to them. Even when some of these young women have a strong family history of breast cancer and they later develop lumps or other signs of breast cancer, it is too often overlooked as a result of age/sex.
Very sad indeed.
Posted at 10:38AM on Jul 26th 2006 by MaryD