October
is designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness month. In the United States, over
100,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year. Several years ago,
I was personally faced with dealing with breast cancer as my mother was
diagnosed. I vividly recall it was the summer before I was preparing to move
away for graduate school when I got the news. It was very devastating at the
time. Yet my thoughts didn’t consider what she was experiencing at that time.
First, how was she going to cope with the diagnosis? Second, how was she
feeling about opening up and talking about her diagnosis with her first born
child right before his departure to begin a journey towards becoming a
psychologist? Now that she is healthy and remains in my life I have been treasuring
each day with her. I have also been making an active effort to take part in activities
that focus on Breast Cancer Awareness. For example, every year I travel home to
run in the Susan G. Komen 5K in her honor.
I can
only imagine what it is like for a mother to tell her child about her illness.
Given the incidence of breast cancer, many women are faced with this issue each
year. Here are a few facts you should know about Breast Cancer:
- Typically, breast
cancer starts out too small to feel and does not cause signs and symptoms
- It is important to have a regular mammogram. Doctors
use a mammogram to look for early signs of breast cancer.
- Having regular mammograms can lower the risk of
dying from breast cancer.
- Men can also get breast cancer, but it is not
very common. For every 100 cases of breast cancer, less than 1 is in men.
Dealing
with a breast cancer diagnosis:
If you
are diagnosed with breast cancer it is important to make sure you receive
appropriate care. The links below provide some resources to help throughout the
process.
Talking
to your child about breast cancer:
View the
links below for help on how to talk with your child about breast cancer and how
to help them cope with your illness.
© Copyright 2012 Erlanger A. Turner
