I do a superb deal of speaking regarding breast well being and taking charge of one's life. As a motivational speaker you hope that your message reaches the spirit of your audience to take action with regards to their well being, particularly their breast well being. When it comes to our breast health, or any well being concern for that reality, as individuals we have to be willing to get to know our bodies and grow to be aware of any change from yesterday, last week, last month or last year.
Typically times our body will send us warning signs that we can heed or merely ignore. I believe in the adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." So when I meet ladies who tell me they have a household history of breast cancer and know they need to being performing factors to manage their breast well being but elect not to, due to the fact they prefer not to know if some thing is incorrect, I am left speechless. Breast cancer is the second leading trigger of cancer deaths, following lung cancer in ladies. If you had a blister on your foot would you not do something about it rather of letting it fester into a critical wound? Of course you would. That is why it is so valuable to follow the American Cancer Society recommendations to have annual mammograms right after the age of 40 (or younger for girls with a family history of breast cancer), have annual clinical exams and even do monthly breast self exams to know your body.
When my friend of thirty plus years told me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer last month my heart stopped. This was the 1st time somebody so close to me had heard those words "you have breast cancer." I asked if she had any indications of one thing wrong - an unfamiliar lump, skin discoloration, swelling or a strange secretion from the nipples. She told me this cancer was discovered through her mammogram and she was now scheduled for a lumpectomy the following week.
Following further discussion she shared that she had not had a mammogram in two years. At a concert on the National Mall grounds she and a stranger discussed a range of topics and 1 factor led to a different. She told the stranger she had not had a mammogram in two years. This stranger occurred to be a double mastectomy survivor and told my buddy to schedule her mammogram right away. I'm listening and thinking "have you not heard something I've been saying for the past 15 years?" Apparently not, but I'm glad God sent an angel to my buddy to get her moving.
She then disclosed to me that she had been diagnosed with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) 3 years ago. DCIS is the most popular non-invasive breast cancer. It is non-invasive because it has not spread outside of the milk duct into the surrounding breast tissue. It is regarded as a Stage cancer, and remedy is removal of the cancer cells and surrounding margins.
I'm now floored as she continues to tell me she in no way stated anything since she did not want me to worry and make a huge deal about it. She is correct, in that I would make a massive deal about it. Getting been diagnosed with DCIS, her risk components had elevated for breast cancer to reoccur or generate a new breast cancer, which is exactly where she now finds herself. Delaying her mammograms was not a beneficial program of breast well being management.
The entire conversation made me realize that no matter how considerably we preach, teach or reach out to other people, the ultimate caretaker of one's well being is you. Persons will only tell you what they want you to know, and will only do what they are not afraid to do. If there is any drop of fear in their mind about a well being problem, that drop grows into a puddle, river, of ocean of fear that makes it harder each day to act on what 1 knows they must do.
Fear is a state of mind that creates a physical reaction of no action. The challenge we as a community face is to defuse the all-natural fear of hearing the word "cancer." More than 96% of women diagnosed early with no metastatic breast cancer (cancer that has not spread to other organs from the original web page) survive 5 years or way more. For the hundreds of thousands of ladies who proudly proclaim "I am a survivor" they are living testaments that there is life just after breast cancer. Do not let fear steal your life.
I explained to my dear friend that considering she has now been diagnosed with breast cancer, her daughter's threat variables have elevated. The girls in her household now have a greater danger element. This data desires to be shared, mainly because so a large number of girls believe there is no history of breast cancer in their family members. We have to be willing to speak openly about breast cancer in order to aid other people in our household manage their breast well being. The time for silence on this issue requires to finish.
My friend has just begun her journey with breast cancer. Her journey is now my journey, because she is my sister.
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