Today I have a date with my on-again boyfriend Dr. Grant who will conduct all the markings for my Farewell to Breasts Tour. Love is always better the second time around? Hmmm. Pete and I are checking into the Westin tonight to enjoy an early evening on the town (no eating after midnight), sleep in a little (our drive to Baylor from the Ranch is 1.5 hours), check into Baylor Spa 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, with surgery beginning at 9:00 am - I like my doctors fresh!Am I scared? Worried? Nervous? YES. Am I confident that I have the best information, the best doctors, the best support system - YES. I think they cancel each other out so I'll be listening to my new surgery meditations (thanks Aunt Mar) and getting into the zone. I will be fine.
From diagnosis to this day, I have had so much to be thankful for but today I'd like to thank my silver "PINK" lining: my Susan G. Komen for the Cure/Dallas County Affiliate family. This pink sisterhood has been the place I have thrown my angry red energy at breast cancer and turned it softer. I have drawn strength and inspiration from the survivors and co-survivors I've met along the way. I have kept my fighting spirit alive for the beautiful people who lost their fight. So many of you have become fast friends for life.
My personal hero is our leader and founder, Nancy Brinker, because her story is my story. And she has exemplified how one person can change the world. Losing a young sister to cancer and then surviving this disease gives you strong motivation to fight back. Thirty years ago, the word "breast" couldn't be printed in the newspaper to talk about the little race for the cure she was having in Dallas where 800 people showed up. How she has changed the world and the conversation about breast cancer (yes, we can even graphically blog about it!). I admire her and respect her deeply.
"People tend to think of pink as a soft and delicate color, but not our pink. At Komen, we know that pink is strong, pink is fierce, pink is brave, and pink is mighty. Just talk to any one of the nation's 2.5 million breast cancer survivors and you'll know the power and courage of pink. I am proud to stand with them, as one of them." - Nancy Brinker
There is no pink elephant in the room among my Komen sisters. We can talk genetic mutations, scars, new breasts, doctors, hopes, fears, losses like we are talking about the weather. It's a safe place full of fierce pink energy. People associated with our cause put countless volunteer hours and efforts into our passion. Respected Dallas Companies like Fox 4, Tom Thumb, Luke's Locker and Katydid Collection are sponsors of the Komen Dallas Race, but their leaders are also wonderful, compassionate people who have become my personal supporters as well. Pictured here is my lovely find from a North Haven Gardens fundraiser. Our cause is filled with amazing people, amazing events and amazing pink energy.
I know that I am often obnoxious in my fundraising and support of this organization, but it has been my soft pink fluffy place to land. It has opened my eyes to the science we are energizing towards a cure but more importantly it has made me look outside of myself. All the pain and suffering my family has experienced because of cancer takes on a different light when I look at what others in my community are experiencing. Women learning to make scarves out of old T-shirts to cover their chemo bald heads because they can't afford a wig; women who don't get mammograms because they believe they can't have it because they have no family history of breast cancer but have a grapefruit size lump; women struggling to keep their homes and their jobs while fighting cancer; women who are taking the bus to their chemo appointments; families making choices between food and treatment. If I could help everyone of them, I would. But I am only one person. So I choose to stand with my Sisterhood of the Pink to make a difference.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. July 6, 2011, I need your prayers, karmic energy or whatever you believe in - that these teensy, tiny cancer cells have not found their way into my lymph nodes. We don't want no stinking chemo!! Can I hear your chant? NO NODES NO NODES NO NODES!!!
October 15, 2011 is the next Komen Dallas Race for the Cure. I hope you will join me in my victory lap
NO NODES NO NODES....peace be with you sister...you are never alone...we are never alone!! Love Ya, G
ReplyDeleteChanting no nodes with you from a plane somewhere over the middle of the country (closer than I usually am to Texas).
ReplyDeleteSuerte mi prima!