y'all.
My dad died of metastatic lung cancer (NSCLC) 3 years ago.
It was terrible, awful. The images are burned in my mind forever.
I didn't like the pink ribbons either.
I didn't like Komen
I didn't like it at all.
Not only did I NOT wear a pink ribbon, I questioned the whole thing.. everyday.
Once I even blasted a lady at Panera for pushing the BC agenda.
Until I found out I had stage 3C breast cancer.
This all happened 18 months after my dad died.
Its pretty serious. 75% of my nodes were cancerous.
I've had a double mastectomy, chemo, rads and a hysterectomy.
i'm not getting reconstruction because I don't see the point. I wear a prosthesis.
I had my mammograms. No family history of BC. My only symptom was a pain in my armpit - it ended up being a cancerous lymph node. The tumor itself was so small, it was only picked up on a MRI.
M dad was 65, and I still cry everyday - but I was dx at 42. They tell me I'll be lucky if I see my 15 year old go to the jr. prom.
So, please, please, please, please try to not be so hard on the pink ribbon people.
Cause now I really get it.
I don't want any of you all to ever go through what I'm going through right now.
I never thought it could happen to me.
But it did...
I feel the frustrations regarding LC stats, but now that I'm on the other side.. well you get it.
Thanks.
I wish there was more support for LC and cancer in general. I'm not exactly sure why it became cool to support BC - but it is....
Peace.
