As a healthy, happy, vegan eating, marathon running, 39 year-old mother, nurse and social worker with no family history of breast cancer, being diagnosed with the disease in October of 2010 rocked my world. In response to my diagnosis, I started a blog called TheSilverPen.com where I write about finding Silver Linings during my experience from the perspective of both a patient and a clinician.
When it came to caring for my daughter – who was 4 ¾ at the time of my diagnosis – initially I felt lost and overwhelmed. As much as I wish this experience had only happened to me and that I could have shielded my family from the pain, the reality is that cancer does not happen in isolation. Cancer happens within the ecosystem of family, friends and community.
The Silver Lining was that my clinical experience as a pediatric nurse combined with my masters’ degrees in child development and social work prepared me to help my young daughter through my diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
Informed by my clinical and personal experiences, I firmly believe that including children in the disease trajectory, from the time of diagnosis, though emotionally burdensome and painful, is ultimately the greatest gift that parents can give them.
The Silver Lining is that now that I am in this period that I refer to as After. I am now focused on prevention and giving back. I want my daughter to live in a world in which breast cancer is a distant memory. We talk about things that we can do to contribute to cancer prevention, everything from eating healthily and exercising to contributing to research initiatives, either literally or financially.
Signing up to be a member of the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research’s Love/Avon Love Research Army is one way that I am giving back. The goal of the Love Research Army is to recruit one million women of all ages and ethnicities, including breast cancer survivors and those who have never had breast cancer to participate in groundbreaking research studies aimed at determining the causes of breast cancer – and how to prevent it once and for ALL.
One of the things that I remember so vividly from my work in academic medical centers (where research is happening in virtually every office and the topic of many if not most meetings!) is that the recruitment of participants is very challenging. Most people don’t realize this. The Silver Lining is that The Love Research Army is bridging this gap AND challenging the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women.
Please join me in supporting the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research by inviting five of your friends to learn more about the Love Research Army and to sign up today. And if you can, consider making a donation as well in honor of your mother, your sister, your daughter and the 813 women diagnosed with breast cancer every day.
Motherhood is the most spectacular Silver Lining in the world. Thanks to my daughter, each and every day, I am reminded of the beauty of life and the precious gift that is motherhood. As an Love Research Army volunteer, I know that I am helping to create a world in which breast cancer no longer exists.
