Perspective

About a month ago I entered my name for 49er game tickets at Stanford's Women's Cancer Center. A few weeks later, I got a call saying I won two tickets. I've never won anything so I was pretty excited to get the call. I took JM, of course and we went this past Sunday. His birthday was on Friday so it was the perfect belated birthday present.

It's October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month so the 49ers had dedicated a small section of the stadium to breast cancer survivors and their guests to enjoy the game and participate in the half-time show. I met a number of women either going through cancer treatment like me or women in remission from the disease for upwards of 25 years, giving me hope for my future.

For the half-time show, we were ushered onto the field by the cheerleaders and gifted a pink pashmina by a 49er alum (I wish I knew football well enough to know who gave me my scarf). The applause and cheers enveloped us from every angle of the stadium; empowering me with strength to keep fighting and moving forward. I felt loved, encouraged and supported by complete strangers I will never meet or exchange words with, and felt camaraderie with the women standing next to me who are fighting the same disease I am fighting. I admired my fellow cancer buddies and was in awe of their happy, vibrant smiles and hoped that I was exuding the same positive energy for them.

I came away from the event feeling so blessed and lucky to be where I am. I caught the cancer early and the chemo and hormone therapies crushed the cancer immediately. There were a number of women at the event who were on their second or third chemotherapy regimens because their previous regimens hadn't worked or their tumor kept getting larger. Before the half-time ceremony there was about 30 minutes when we had a chance to chat with each other and exchange stories. One woman said that she would be happy if she can live 5 more years, but instead of just leaving the world without making an impact, she's doing everything she can to further breast cancer and BRCA research so that one less woman (or man) has to go through this. Her attitude and courage is inspiring.

I know I will survive this and live. My prognosis is great, maybe even excellent (I'd like to think that it is, at least). ;) When I hear stories of women who's prognosis is not as good as my own, I feel an immense amount of guilt that I will be OK, and that living another 5 years is not a question but a certainty. I wish nothing but the absolute best for these women and all the other women fighting this disease. We have come so far in breast cancer research but the road ahead is still a very long one. Thankfully for me and the thousands of other women with HER2+ breast cancer, a drug called Herceptin was introduced as a targeted hormone therapy.  Fourteen years ago, HER2+ breast cancer was very hard to beat, but with Herceptin my tumor shrank after the first treatment. I am done with chemo on October 30th, but will continue with Herceptin until May 2013.

My little preachy bit before I go...and since it's breast cancer awareness month it's sort of fitting...early detection is key to beating this awful disease. Ladies and gents, do a self breast exam, check your family history and if you have a history of breast or ovarian cancer ask your doctor about whether you should have a BRCA gene mutation test done, get your mammograms ON-TIME, get an annual PAP, get your annual physical...here's to all our health and happiness.

PS Thank you all so much for your emails following my last post. I have the most amazing friends and family who lift me up and make life a lot brighter and happier when I'm feeling down. Lots of love to you all.