Freeday Friday: Breast Cancer Awareness

  I actually prepared an entirely different post for today, but after another inspiring MOPS meeting, I decided to change it and post about the incredibly strong women that spoke to our group of moms (since I did not ask for permission to post her story we'll call her Jane).  This month is breast cancer awareness and Jane is a survivor.  At 28 Jane was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She was perfectly healthy in all other aspects, she never found a lump, and there was never any family history.  One day she just found an area on her skin that felt calloused.  The doctors were very positive about Jane's condition; it seems they found it early and they could just easily perform a lumpectomy and remove the problem spot.  Jane decided she would really pray about this and to her horror, she felt like God was telling her to not have the lumpectomy, but to have a double mastectomy.  Everyone tried to convince her otherwise, even up until the surgery, but Jane was determined.  Unbelievably, when the doctors opened her up, not only did they find the small little calloused lump, but they found that the cancer had spread from her breast, all the way down her right side, to where her right hip met her right leg.  An astonishing twenty lymph nodes had to be removed!  If she had only had the lumpectomy she would not have survived.  Not only did Jane survivor cancer, but despite the fact that her treatment was suppose to render her completely infertile, she is now the mother to a beautiful two-month-old daughter.
  I think that we've all been effect by some type of cancer.  I wouldn't doubt it if everyone has a cancer story about someone they know, a family member, a friend, or even a personal experience.  I've lost two of my grandmothers from cancer, one had breast cancer.  I didn't know my Mama Dale as well as I wish I did, but I know that she was an amazing person who fought against cancer with dignity, grace, and strength.  I wish that I could be writing an inspiring survival story about her, but I can tell you that she left this world for a better place and she knew and accepted exactly where she was going.  Just like Jane, my Mama Dale listened to God and trusted that He would take care of her.  Its not always easy to hear what God has to say, but if we learn to trust in Him even the most devastating diagnoses can become positive.