Note: The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or substitute for professional care. For medical emergencies, dial 911!
The Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation's mission is to grant wishes, including memory-making events, for metastatic breast cancer patients, while continuing to support, educate and increase resource awareness.
One of the Making Memories fundraisers is Brides Against Breast Cancer. It can give brides-to-be, an opportunity to find the wedding gown of their dreams (at an incredible savings) while making wishes and dreams come true. Click here if you wish to donate your gown.
The Drexelbrook Wedding and Banquet Facility is hosting Nationwide Tour of Gowns on October 10th and 11th. If you live near Drexel Hill, PA you can attend this event and browse over 40 racks of exquisite, named brand and designer wedding gowns costing from $89 to $799.
Event Details:
Drexelbrook Wedding & Banquet Facility. Drexelbrook Drive & Valley road
The profile on her blog reads: Living in London. Working in ads. Currently undergoing treatment for Breast Cancer. And that about sums it up for this woman whose life has become hijacked by cancer. That's the way it goes. Cancer strikes and life revolves around it for so much longer than we'd like.
The 30-something Anne-Marie Weeden writes in a recent blog post:
I was genuinely confident at the beginning of this process that the whole chemo thing should not affect life too much. And in the first three treatments it didn't really. But the last three have just escalated in terms of the challenges they have thrown my way. They said it would be cumulative but I didn't realise it would accumulate on such a scale. I'd say the last two treatment cycles have been at least ten times as hard as the first one.
Meg Wolff survived cancer -- twice. First she had bone cancer and lost her leg to the disease. Then she had breast cancer and was given little hope from doctors who thought traditional treatment could not save her. Maybe it couldn't. But Wolff found something that did save her -- a macrobiotic diet.
Life is all about balance, says Wolff who authors a website rich in content about the connection between diet and a healthy lifestyle. She offers up-to-date information on her blog, links to recipes and resources, a calendar of events, and a look at her very own book, titled, Becoming Whole, The Story of My Complete Recovery from Breast Cancer.
Wolff says that by changing her diet, she has changed her destiny. She is alive and well and thriving. Give her a visit and see for yourself.
Despite her recent breast cancer diagnosis, Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts is already speaking out about the cancer cause. In fact, she just recently spoke to a group of cancer survivors and activists at a fundraiser in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Roberts is also speaking about the relief she feels now that her diagnosis has been made public -- "It was like the weight of the world was lifted," she said.
Talking about cancer invites support. Roberts, 46, got some comforting words of support from Elizabeth Edwards just after her announcement. Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, is also fighting breast cancer.
Here's what might be a typical train of thought for someone surviving cancer. That someone, in this case, is me.
I have been getting sicker and sicker for the past three days. Sore throat, sore ears, and a heavy head made me think at first it was some sort of sinus issue. Add a cough, a rumbling and painful chest, sore gums, chills and sweats, and a fever roaring past 102.8 and the worries start rolling in. I feel like I did twice before, just before I was admitted to the hospital with dipping white blood counts.
The worst of it hit Friday night and since I just couldn't make myself sit in the ER for hours on end, I overstepped my boundaries, tracked down my hospital's on-call oncologist, and listed off my symptoms. Since my treatment for breast cancer concluded one year ago, the doctor wasn't worried. He called it an infection and called me in a prescription. In a few days, when my course of antibiotics run out, I should be fine.
My mom's friend was diagnosed with breast cancer the other day. Since I've already been down the breast cancer path, she asked me to send this friend a supportive e-mail. I've done this before -- reach out to someone newly diagnosed -- but it's never easy. I never know quite what to say. Somehow, I figure it out, though.
Here are seven of the messages I shared with this woman who is just beginning her journey with Paget's disease of the breast, a form of breast cancer that shows up in the nipple as an itchiness or scaling that doesn't get better.
In the face of uncertainty, worry, and fear, here's some good news: once you gain more and more information about your diagnosis, the easier it gets. The waiting really is the hardest part. Knowing what lies ahead will give you some control over your path.
The following post is one of a series of posts appearing Monday through Friday on The Cancer Blog. This feature -- Today, I am grateful -- allows me to share with readers my appreciation for all the treasures in my life, both big and small. In my post-cancer world, I find It healing for my soul to be mindful of the good in my life. It is my pleasure to share my gratitude with you.
The night before my lumpectomy, way back in December 2005, I was consumed with fear, worry, and panic. Since I'd found it, the lump in my left breast had been sitting untouched for nearly two weeks. I imagined the mass spreading with each day and believed I could detect its growth each time I felt for it. A doctor told me if it was growing like I thought it was, my tiny pea-sized tumor would be the size of an apple within days.
My fears were unfounded and irrational. I know that now. But during the moments of uncertainty that filled my days between diagnosis and prognosis, I had no direction. I had only my wandering mind for company. The waiting really is the hardest part. Once faced with the specifics of our diseases, we can take action.
David L. Katz, MD, responds to a reader in the September 2007 issue of The Oprah Magazine about the merits of eating soy in relation to preventing cancer. His response causes me to pause even more about jumping on any diet bandwagon.
Katz says we should eat soy foods -- just not too much because the evidence linking soy to breast cancer, for example, is mixed.
In comparing soy-eating Japanese women with American women who eat very little soy, researchers find lower rates of breast cancer in the Japanese women. But in a test tube, soy's plant estrogens can speed cancer cell growth. Maybe soy behaves differently in the body than it does in a tube. Or maybe soy has both negative and positive effects on breast cancer. Perhaps it's not soy at all. It could be that the populations eating soy are benefiting from not eating something else, like meat -- the saturated fat found in red meat has been linked to higher cancer rates. Replacing steak with something else may be the protective key.
Breast cancer survivor and rocker Sheryl Crow says she conquered cancer in part due to the type of research funded by "FFANY Shoes on Sale." This Fashion Footwear Association of New Yorkshoe sale features thousands of beautiful shoes sold at half the manufacturer's suggested retail price. All net proceeds are donated to the breast cancer cause.
If you love shoes and wish to help further the fight against breast cancer, tune in to QVC for a night of shopping on October 17 from 7:00 - 10:00 PM ET.
Over the past 10 years, "FFANY Shoes On Sale" has raised more than $16 million and sold over 950,000 pairs of shoes to benefit breast cancer research and education programs. Here's to another great year.
There is nothing unusual about a non-profit organization publishing a calendar. There is something very unique about this one. Life is a Carnival is a bold approach to mastectomy and reconstruction education.
This 2008 calendar features photos from FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered members who have undergone bilateral mastectomy -- with or without reconstruction. To retain the anonymity of the models, they are wearing mardi gras masks.
This project is meant to celebrate life after mastectomy, to showcase many types of reconstruction and non reconstruction options in a nonthreatening and positive light. The calendar contains information about the models surgery with references included to the chapters in the Breast Reconstruction Guidebook which explains each procedure. A secondary goal of this calendar is to raise needed funds for FORCE programs.
Like my blogger friend Kristina Collins, I too just attended a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer kick-off. Kristina's New Jersey event was a breakfast. My Florida event was a dinner. It wasn't the meal that mattered, though. What matters is the enthusiasm, the spirit, the inspiration that flows through the rooms where these gatherings take place.
My kick-off celebration featured a delicious and healthy meal, a slide show of the pink-shirted crowds that assembled for last year's 5K event, a mini lesson on the topic of breast cancer, a presentation from a 27-year old wife and mother of three who has survived breast cancer for one year, and a reminder that now is the time to start raising funds for the big day -- October 20, here in Gainesville.
I went to this dinner with my husband, sat with two oncology nurses who form a fundraising and walking team each year, and choked back the emotion that wells up in me when I'm part of such a powerful group.
Triple-negative breast cancer means that the pathology report has shown the cancer to be estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and HER2 negative.
Results published in Clinical Cancer Research found that women with triple negative breast cancer have an increased risk of metastatic disease and death during the first few years after diagnoses, but not after that time period.
A study was conducted among 1,601 breast cancer patients. One hundred and eighty women (11.2%) had triple negative breast cancer.
I was trained months ago to serve as a Reach to Recovery volunteer for the American Cancer Society (ACS). My purpose: to meet face-to-face with women facing breast cancer, to offer them some measure of comfort, to help them manage their overwhelming emotions, to provide them with information and resources, to impart hope during a time of fear and uncertainty.
For months, I had not been called upon to meet with anyone in my community. I'd like to think this is a good thing -- a sign of decreasing breast cancer cases perhaps -- but I tend to believe it stems from a hesitancy to ask for help or a lack of knowledge about this support program. Regardless, I got my first call last week. And I made my first visit. And these are my first impressions of my first encounter as a Reach to Recovery volunteer.
The Reach to Recovery program operates on the premise of matching like-cancer survivors. I was matched with a young woman -- she is 31; I am 37, although my diagnosis came at age 34 -- and each of us was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. We both had surgery, both have young children, both feel a little sad that because of cancer, we likely won't have more children. We connected. We bonded. For a little more than one hour, we were in the same boat. Together, we tackled rough waters.
She's the guru on breast cancer, the woman who writes the continually updated breast cancer bible. She's Dr. Susan Love, author of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, and in the May/June 2007 issue of MAMM magazine, she shares some of her latest thoughts.
On milk ducts
Dr. Love says all breast cancer begins in the milk ducts. If we want to get rid of breast cancer, she says, we need to understand where it starts. Until recently, we weren't able to do that. Now, doctors can numb the nipple, thread a catheter into a milk duct and sample the fluid, cells, carcinogens, and hormones. By looking at the location where cancer develops, there's the potential to find out how it started and how to prevent it. In March, Dr. Love's Research Foundation sponsored a conference on this topic.
On MRI
Dr. Love is not a big fan of MRI. It's overly sensitive and finds everything -- most of which is not cancer, she says. MRI leads women on wild goose chases so Dr. Love likes to reserve this test for women at high-risk.
Wouldn't it be great if we could receive full-body scans every year to check for early signs of cancer and other disease? Even if possible and affordable -- right now, scans cost about $900 -- it still wouldn't be such a great idea.
Full-body scans often result in false alarms. People with harmless abnormalities may end up facing more tests, more risks, and more worry in order to rule out illness. The scan itself can present health hazards too. It exposes patients to more radiation than a chest X-ray and could slightly increase the risk of cancer, especially for those scanned every year.
How do we know, then, if something has gone awry in our bodies? Well, we can do our self-exams -- breast exams, testicular exams, skin exams -- and we can report for annual check-ups. We can respond to symptoms we experience -- if headaches are bothersome and persistent, your doctor may prescribe a head scan -- and we can pursue tests and screening that we really need for cancer prevention and early detection. Here are just a few:
The Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation's mission is to grant wishes, including memory-making events, for metastatic breast cancer patients, while continuing to support, educate and increase resource awareness.
The profile on her 
Meg Wolff survived cancer -- twice. First she had bone cancer and lost her leg to the disease. Then she had breast cancer and was given little hope from doctors who thought traditional treatment could not save her. Maybe it couldn't. But Wolff found something that did save her -- a macrobiotic diet.
Despite her recent breast cancer diagnosis, Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts is already speaking out about the cancer cause. In fact, she just recently spoke to a group of cancer survivors and activists at a fundraiser in Biloxi, Mississippi. 
Here's what might be a typical train of thought for someone surviving cancer. That someone, in this case, is me.
My mom's friend was diagnosed with breast cancer the other day. Since I've already been down the breast cancer path, she asked me to send this friend a supportive e-mail. I've done this before -- reach out to someone newly diagnosed -- but it's never easy. I never know quite what to say. Somehow, I figure it out, though. 
The following post is one of a series of posts appearing Monday through Friday on The Cancer Blog. This feature -- 
David L. Katz, MD, responds to a reader in the September 2007 issue of The Oprah Magazine about the merits of eating soy in relation to preventing cancer. His response causes me to pause even more about jumping on any diet bandwagon.
Breast cancer survivor and rocker Sheryl Crow says she conquered cancer in part due to the type of research funded by 
There is nothing unusual about a non-profit organization publishing a calendar. There is something very unique about this one. 
Like my blogger friend 
Triple-negative breast cancer means that the pathology report has shown the cancer to be estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and HER2 negative.
I was trained months ago to serve as a 
She's the guru on breast cancer, the woman who writes the continually updated breast cancer bible. She's Dr. Susan Love, author of 
Wouldn't it be great if we could receive full-body scans every year to check for early signs of cancer and other disease? Even if possible and affordable -- right now, scans cost about $900 -- it still wouldn't be such a great idea.
