Picture Your Life
Faces of Breast Cancer
If you live with breast cancer, love someone with breast cancer or worry about your risk for breast cancer, you are part of a global community of women and men whose lives have been touched by the disease. We asked our readers to share insights from their experiences with breast cancer. Browse their stories to find people like you and join the conversation.
Find someone like you
Personal Information
Gender:
Age:
Ethnicity:
Marital Status:
Diagnosis
Stage:
Type:
Subtype:
Treatment
Non-Surgical:
-
-
AnaOno
from Philadelphia, Pa.
I realized that you get the opportunity to make your own decisions along the line, mine was forfeiting the nipple reconstruction. -
Omonike
from Virgin Islands, British
The truth is, breast cancer has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. -
MGY
from Atlanta, Ga.
I mourn the loss of my beautiful physical self, physically fit with boundless energy, and patience. -
Kristie Wallace Barrow
from Greensboro, N.C.
This time, my now older children are watching me and how I react to adversity. I constantly tell them to keep pushing and fight like a champion. -
Monica
from Robbinsdale, Minn.
It was an easy choice, though not an easy detour in life, dealing with hair loss, bone pain, sores in my mouth, nausea and caring for young children, but it lowered my chance of recurrence to less than 1 percent. -
Sandra
from Reston, Va.
I feel like I have super powers now. Like I can see into the souls of my daughters and husband and friends and colleagues. I can now appreciate acts of kindness and generosity in a way I could never have before. -
ladybard
from Sarasota, Fla.
Thirty-one years ago, my doctor noticed a lump in my breast. I thought it was a muscle to which she said, "Who are you, Wonder Woman?" -
Jennifer
from Sarasota, Fla.
The only thing that made me cry through the of surgeries and treatments was the thought of them not remembering their mother. -
Tai Harden-Moore
from Orlando, Fla.
I never imagined when I relocated my family from Seattle to Orlando to attend law school that only one year later I would receive a diagnosis of breast cancer. -
Elizabeth
from Scarsdale, N.Y.
I realized that as a physician I could help 50 patients per week, but as a business person, I could help hundreds. -
Flori
from Baires, Argentina
Pain can be ignored if you counter-arrest it with stronger activities. -
Uzma
from Glenview, Ill.
Dear Cancer...You have lodged yourself in a place where I need room to accommodate the love and caring that life has to offer. I need the room vacated so it can be filled with joy and peace and contentment. -
Martha
from Amsterdam, Netherlands
My experience with (triple positive) breast cancer has taught me that you can handle so much more than you think is humanly possible. -
Tammi
from Sayre, Pa.
Your story begins when your breath gets taken away, as you walk through the storm. -
Krysti
from Indianapolis, Ind.
I have lived with breast cancer for the past nine years, but I'm still on the right side of the grass. -
LJF
from Red Bank, N.J.
When you have cancer you cannot force people to understand or want to go through the experience with you. -
MellyT
from Brooklyn, N.Y.
I chose to have bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction, and you know what? I love my body better this way. -
Robshello
from Edmonton, Canada
Now the closest I come to admitting to having cancer is to say, 'I have a history of breast cancer in my family.' -
Mireille Parker
from Lucerne, Switzerland
My niche to service-based female entrepreneurs who would love to be healthy and powerfully feminine as they build their business. -
Don Eddy
from Hastings, Minn.
This is a breast cancer story and a dog story. Barb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. Our German Shepherd Callie was 4 years old -
Marie
from Novato, Calif.
I am learning to look at and 'see life' rather than seeing loss. -
Janice
from Rome, Italy
I had great medical and social support, I think because all the advocacy and voluntary help of cancer survivors and their loved ones has really paid off. -
Patricia
from Watertown, N.Y.
Every step of the process, I knew in my gut what the outcome would be. -
Maggiebe
from Lancashire, United Kingdom
Fifteen days since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I accept it is another learning curve in my life. -
Peg
from United States Minor Outlying Islands
With my cancer diagnosis falling right on the heels of my mom's passing, I have felt keenly the preciousness of life and time. -
Lisa Rosik, Shara Berentz
from Torrance, Calif.
Over the next six months, my mother and I went through surgery and chemotherapy, and I also had radiation treatment. -
EL Moore
from Johns Island, S.C.
My daughter is Angela Capers -- Angie -- a breast cancer survivor. In 2005, she was the mother of a 5-year-old son, Sydney. Angie was sepa -
Deborah Bauer
from Phoenix, Ariz.
We lived estranged, my father on one side of the house, my mother and I on the other. Cancer joined us at the table where my mother and I ate our lamb chops as we listened to my father’s car pull out of the garage. -
NONA
from Kailua Kona
I have less patience for mundane things, less tolerance for wasted time and am more attuned to the quality of the relationships that I keep. -
Charlyn Bernal
from West Hollywood, Ill.
I was fired from a 12-year position in which I was well respected because of cancer. -
Lauren Trout
from New Orleans, La.
There is no space for me, this breast cancer culture is forcing me to dissect myself from my young, queer, feminist identity to be cancer-free. -
Susan F.
from Oceanside, N.Y.
I have peeled away many close relationships like the thin skin of an onion for reasons that are meaningful to me, but may seem trivial to someone else. -
AEG
from Hoofddorp, Netherlands
I am only 45, but there are days when I feel that I should go live with my mother-in-law in a home for the elderly disabled. -
CaseOfDees
from Huissen, Netherlands
I had to stop living as I did. I had to find a way to stop surviving and start living again. -
Lela
from Chicago, Ill.
Never again will I place my health on the back burner. -
Linda Cooper
from Castlegar, Canada
My advice for anyone newly diagnosed is to wait two weeks before making any decision, go away on vacation or somewhere you can think uninterrupted. -
Michele Stapleton
from Jacksonville, Fla.
I never thought I would say I’m glad I had cancer, but I am. I can honestly say I'm more blessed. -
Dedication to Deb Johns
from St Louis, Mo.
We wanted to celebrate the survivors and support those still fighting. So we decided to dance. -
Susan Livingston
from Winnipeg, Canada
One of my friends told me that she kept making excuses to avoid visiting me in the hospital. -
Lynne Cunningham
from Chicago, Ill.
My story is that, after getting to my five-year mark, I've almost forgotten my story. -
Eloise
from New York City, N.Y.
I was a very private person before my diagnosis, but I realized I couldn't get through this on my own. The love and support I received made each day a little easier. -
Barbara K
from Coral Springs, Fla.
My surgery was scheduled for Oct. 2, but my walk was on Oct. 12. Not only did I go to the race, but I completed the entire 5K! -
Nicole
from Redondo Beach, Calif.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2012 at 37 years old. -
Erica Concors
from Ann Arbor, Mich.
I promised her that I would tell her story as best I could, and relate it to my own in an effort to build our relationship past her lifetime. -
Marti Staton
from Lancaster, Del.
I was able to keep teaching in the largest elementary school in Pennsylvania while I was receiving chemotherapy because the large faculty and staff rallied to help me. -
Helen
from New York, N.Y.
Cancer brought many revelations: a glimpse of a spiritual life, which I've turned into a fruitful relationship with my faith, Judaism; an appreciation for constructive relationships; the experience of doing artwork, first in art therapy at my cancer center and then in classes and on my own. -
Mimi Lee
from San Francisco, Calif.
I found the courage to start living again, but this scared away my new husband, who decided that my zeal was overwhelming, and he left me. -
Anya Silver
from Macon, Ga.
I was first diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer when I was 35 and pregnant with my first child. -
Marleah Dean Kruzel
from College Station, Tex.
I wonder if the cancer is a snake swallowing bits of my 38-year-old mom. I didn’t know then that the snake is in me. -
Sandra
from Little Shemogue, Canada
When I got the call, my 9-month-old daughter was sleeping in my arms. -
Sarah Merchant
from Salem, Mass.
Two days before my scheduled surgery I found out that the cancer had spread to my liver and sacral spine. -
Hannah
from Los Angeles, Calif.
My son died two days after I gave birth from what the doctors said were complications from the chemotherapy. -
Bob
from Philadelphia, Pa.
This past, March, after hearing from a friend who had checked herself and discovered a lump, I examined my chest and noticed a small lump -
Heidi Floyd
from Toronto, Canada
I had three very young daughters, a long family history of breast cancer and a positive pregnancy test when I was diagnosed. -
Patti Broccoli
from Berkeley Heights, N.J.
Within three weeks, my sisters and I all had confirmation that we carried the same genetic defect that left us at risk for both ovarian and breast cancer. -
Efrat Roman
from Jerusalem, Israel
Years before the BRCA mutation was defined, I knew it was in my genes. -
Steff
from Torino, Italy
You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only option you have. -
Sarah Kramer
from Victoria, BC Canada, Canada
I looked at my 'space' the day after surgery. I didn’t want to wait. I didn’t want my incision be a scary thing. When I looked down I was like, 'Oh. O.K. That’s not so bad.' -
Kris Attento
from Ogden
My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer on my son's fifth birthday. It was April 3, 2003. -
Laura Barbagli
from Arezzo, Italy
Three years ago my life was changed forever with breast cancer. -
Sarah
from Kennett Square, Pa.
I think I have a clearer memory of my mother’s hands than her voice or even her face. -
Marga
from Boven Leeuwen, Netherlands
I had regular mammograms, but at some point I stopped. I wanted to be free and buried my head in the sand. -
Jayne
from North Vancouver, Canada
I'd never been a public advocate before, yet I knew when I was lying on the radiation table at the cancer clinic that I was meant to take on that role. -
Gina
from Boston, Mass.
Then after a moment she said, 'It really doesn’t matter, does it?' I think we both felt relieved in knowing that we were accepting our lack of control, and that everything would be fine. -
JJ
from Sydney, Australia
I was overcome with fear and grief for my child and unborn child. How can I treat my cancer while pregnant? -
Melissam93
from Quito, Ecuador
When she was in bed, that’s when I thought: “Maybe the doctors are wrong. Maybe I was going to have a little brother or sister.” -
Grandma Huggs
from Spring Valley, San Diego, Calif.
I sometimes feel guilty that my cancer experience went so smoothly. -
Alison
from Eagle-Vail, Colo.
Life as I knew it is going on again. And at so many moments I want to yell at it and stick my tongue out at it. -
Miranda
from London, United Kingdom
After the diagnosis I gave him a choice: We had just met each other, so please feel free to walk away. I will not blame you. -
Jacky
from Deventer, Netherlands
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2012. After being afraid of getting cancer, I have to deal with it. -
Elizabeth
from Thunder Bay, Canada
Cancer makes me think more about the little things I can do. I try to do and say little things to brighten other people's days. -
Nicole Randall
from Honolulu
Though I was seven when my mother was diagnosed with terminal, Stage 4 breast cancer, I vividly remember her mastectomy scars, the chemo, radiation and other horrors of her illness. -
Kim
from Springfield, Va.
She was short of breath and we needed to stop. Until that moment, I never realized the enormity of the disease that she was battling. -
Coach
from Dalian, China
I have elected to pursue one or more alternative treatments that are non-toxic and that offer a safe route to health. -
Latanya Moore
from Philadelphia, Pa.
I had no intentions of getting a mammogram until I turned 40 years old. -
Lydia
from Wichita, Kan.
Cancer enters my life without any warning. -
Keri
from Fond du Lac, Wis.
You don’t realize that you can touch someone so deeply when you’re just dancing around and smiling for a few minutes. -
Candice Clark
from Charlotte, N.C.
My name is Candice. I am your all-American girl next door. I grew up in a home filled with love and laughter. I am a total girlie girl. -
Peggy Miller
from Prairie Village, Kan.
My son Bret Miller found his lump under his right nipple at age 17. -
Shawn
from New York, N.Y.
My mother pushed aside everything on her plate and cared for me through my grueling treatments. -
Mita
from Evanston, Ill.
How could I have been so irresponsible with my own life when I had just brought my son into the world? -
Amy
from Baltimore, Md.
At this low point, I was more scared of losing who I thought I was than death. -
Grazia De Michele
from Eastbourne, United Kingdom
Meeting her, even if only virtually, made me think for the first time that I was not alone. -
Chris
from Framingham, Mass.
I know that having faced the fear once, I can face anything now, and that's a good feeling to have. -
Lisa-Marie Newton
from Belm, Calif.
I honestly think of my year of cancer as the greatest gift. -
Dawnn Eikenberry
from Portland, Ore.
'It’s cancer.' This news, delivered to me by the woman who three thin years ago happened to have delivered my third child. -
Jasmin
from Toronto, Canada
My mother passed away from cancer-related complications while I was in chemo, and it broke my heart. -
Paul
from Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
She has no more future, and is at the end of the treatment. Now she is dying. -
Ruth Ross
from Portland, Ore.
As an artist I could not stop painting. Feelings of illness, loss of identity, weakness and vulnerability beyond what I had ever experienced: this bore expressing. -
Jill
from Marshall, Minn.
She knew it wasn't good when the radiologist returned with three others, only to say, 'Boy, you don't see that every day.' -
Theresa S.
from Hiawatha
I am living my life as fully as I can, but waiting for the guillotine to drop. -
Eli_G
from Munich, Germany
While wearing my headscarf, someone I didn't know well asked me if I was sick. I ended up screaming at her. -
Brigitte Curtaz
from Chabaud Latour 90, France
In 2011, I was operated on for breast cancer. I was 49 years old, and I thought my life was coming to an end. -
Courage
from Ontario, Calif.
The doctor said I was lucky, I responded that I was blessed. Blessed doesn't work for everyone, but it definitely works for me. -
Anita E.
from Roermond, Netherlands
I was 30 weeks pregnant with my fourth child when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At that moment, my world collapsed. A week later, I -
George
from Salt Lake City
I watch my wife of 31 years struggling to breathe as we wait for another appointment to drain fluid from her lungs...Her eyes are just as alluring as the day we met. -
Jana Knazko
from Ottawa, Canada
Staying home alone with all kinds of discomfort from side-effects left me lonely and too sick to do anything. -
Babs
from Limerick, Ireland
I sometimes get exhausted from all the positive empowerment stories. I struggle to find people who feel just plain old sad like I do. -
Brenda Frost
from Seattle, Wash.
I never considered myself an athlete, but decided I needed to get back into healthier habits after my diagnosis. -
Marsha Blitz Hollister
from San Tan Valley, Ariz.
I want very badly for more research money to go for metastatic breast cancer and men's breast cancer. -
Jill Topham-McCullough
from Oshawa, Canada
I agree with Buddha, who said not to mourn the past or predict the future but to live in the moment. -
Wise Woman
from New York, N.Y.
I am a previvor — a survivor of a hereditary predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer. I am positive for a BRCA2 mutation. -
Lisa Duncanson
from Huntington Beach, Calif.
My body is forever changed. I have many scars, loss of mobility and physical strength. There are many things I can no longer do. -
Alison Sawyer
from Atlanta, Ga.
2,165. That is how many miles are between myself and the best woman I know, who happens to have breast cancer. -
wickeddollz
from Markham, Canada
I feel guilty my prognosis is good, while others face their worst fears. It does me no good to feel it, but I do nonetheless. -
Roxanne Martinez
from Fort Worth, Tex.
On November 1, 2010, I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, just a week after learning I was pregnant. -
Sheilag
from Eemnes, Netherlands
I received a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer last July. It had permeated my liver, and my oncologist said it looked really bad. I had no -
Jim Hopp
from San Carlos, Calif.
I was (and still am, breast cancer notwithstanding) a very healthy man. -
Lauren Sallinger
from New York, N.Y.
In the midst of surgical pain, chemo anxiety and IVF meds, I had a matter of days to choose the biological father of my child. -
Becky Gesswein
from Minneapolis, Minn.
My maternal grandmother had breast cancer and passed away at 48 years old in 1983, just a few months prior to my being born. -
Premi
from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
I started the "Protect Your Mom" campaign on Facebook. -
Bob Riter
from Ithaca, N.Y.
Breast cancer hit me completely out of the blue. I was 40 years old, a man, with no family history of the disease. -
Christine
from Midlothian, Tex.
His heart will be broken again and I hate that I did this to him. I love him, but now I wish I never met him. -
Marlene Walther
from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
My cat Pushka was great comfort and company for me while I was going through my chemotherapy and recovery. -
Karen Gadbois
from New Orleans , La.
Cancer changed me. The floodwaters of the failed levees changed me too. -
sandy
from Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Breast cancer is not soft, fluffy, sparkly nor pink. Cancer is a vacant wasteland of a scar across my chest where my breasts once greeted lovers, comforted my children. -
Barbara
from Fort Washington, Miss.
I was tired of living with the worry hanging over my head, so I decided to cut my risk with a simple bilateral mastectomy. -
bjg
from Austin, Tex.
Twenty months before my diagnosis, my husband and partner of 23 years was killed in a motor vehicle accident, leaving me with three daughters ranging from 11 to 6-years-old. -
Faith
from State College, Pa.
All my life I had felt alienated from my body. -
Colleen
from Redmond, Wash.
My 13-year-old son says cancer either takes a person's smile, or them. -
Shamimara Afia
from Bangladesh
After chemo sessions, I started to sing classical Bengali songs and I created my music albums. -
Dr. Houriya Kazim
from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The women hid it until it was too late just because they did not want to show their breast to a male physician. -
Philippa Kibugu-Decuir
from Houston, Tex.
In Africa, lack of knowledge, stigma, poverty and dysfunctional health systems result in late presentation of the disease when it is not curable. -
Grace
from Minneapolis, Minn.
I don't regret the surgery, but my whole body image changed. -
Katherine Thomas
from Basel, Switzerland
I am so happy to have the health insurance and hospital policies here in Switzerland working for me instead of the American system. -
Organicmarsha
from Barrie, Canada
This isn't supposed to happen to me since I am so clean-living and have such a positive outlook in my life. -
Dulce Thomas
from Nicaragua
Let's fight against the cancer with all our energy! Let's live life without fear. -
Pamela
from Brooklyn, N.Y.
My mother eventually died in 1994, and I got sober a year later. -
CrsP35
from Chicago, Ill.
My Four Gift Rules fund is my way of honoring the fight, and raising awareness to the fact that there is a mounting number of young women, like myself, diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. -
Melanie Young
from New York, N.Y.
Diagnosed at age 50 and with no family history of breast cancer, I wondered if my profession, eating and drinking for a living was eating me up alive. -
Victoria
from Newton, Mass.
My mother turns to me saying, 'This week will be a weird week. I'm having surgery.' -
Art Johnston
from Cherry Hill, N.J.
My wife was diagnosed in 2002. She died in 2011. I am an elementary school art teacher, and I did little drawings to vent my frustrations. -
Ilona Silverman
from South Portland, Me.
My soul told me breast cancer would happen, and it did. -
Allison
from Shorewood, Wis.
I lost a great deal of weight. I got sick. I lost all of my hair. I never missed a day of class. -
Carla
from Fiesole, Italy
It was June 7, 1990, and I was in the office on the telephone and happened to put my hand inside my blouse, and suddenly felt a lump. -
Lindsay van Nederveen
from Vlaardingen, Netherlands
I was diagnosed with BRCA1 gene defect at age of 21. When my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer, she was tested. -
Kathy
from Nashville, Tenn.
We talked about our dogs for a while, which calmed both of us. -
Teresa
from Nashville, Tenn.
I am a 22 year "breast, cervical, uterine, skin, lymphatic cancers" survivor. -
Emily-Kate Niskey
from Las Vegas, Nev.
The worst part of my breast cancer journey was not the cancer, it was my two failed reconstructions. -
Camron G
from Dimondale, Mich.
My wife Lisa is an incredible mother of three. Now she's more equipped than ever to provide love and support in ways she didn't plan. -
Jennifer
from Bronx, N.Y.
I was living my life as a freelance opera singer with a breastfeeding 18-month-old son when I was diagnosed with widespread metastatic breast cancer in March 2012, at the age of 32. -
Bonnie Cameron
from Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada
They didn't have me hydrate. Big mistake. I felt awful for the first four treatments. -
TobyJean
from Silver Spring, Miss.
'Sit! Ready... Attention… Go!' These words are heard at the beginning of a dragon boat race, and my boat team is GoPink!DC. -
Monique and Maddy
from Nijmegen, Netherlands
She was with me in the room when they explained which tests would follow the diagnosis. My 9-year-old daughter looked solemnly and didn’t say a word. -
Jesse
from Lake Lure, N.C.
I write this in honor of my amazingly strong mom, Sandy Doncaster, who has breast cancer in her bones. -
Deirdre Featherstone
from Dublin, Ireland
I had a huge "finishing chemo" party with more than 100 people and a D.J., so we could dance until the early hours. -
Jane
from Bethesda, Miss.
It was the faces of my family that I couldn’t bear. -
Jeanne Morouney
from Otter Creek, New Brunswick, Canada
I'll be 80 years old next year, and I am still going strong, staying active and having a grand time. Cancer was a catalyst, not a death sentence. -
Julie M
from Newton, Mass.
"You've got to be kidding me" was my first thought when I discovered the tiniest little bump in my right reconstructed breast. -
Katherine Formosa Bown
from Cardiff, United Kingdom
I want to share my experience with the mothers, sisters, sons, husbands and best friends to women who have been diagnosed. -
Caroline Blom
from Velp, Netherlands
My parents are celebrating their wedding anniversary and it is my kids' first day in their new school. I’m lying on the surgeon’s examination table. -
Elizabeth
from Glendale Heights, Ill.
Some friends have said I would look better in clothes if I had breasts. Others see it as confidence in who I am. The truth is that I never was fond of my breasts and hated wearing a bra. -
Victoria Ford
from Lymington, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Big breast cancer charities have little or no interest in us, preferring to concentrate on Pinkness, survivorship and awareness. -
Stacey
from Santa Clara, Calif.
Sometimes my mom and I joke we’re sharing a singular breast cancer experience, separated by 1,600 miles. -
Monique
from The Hague, Netherlands
All my friends were saying that 2013 would be 'my year' and my only thought was: 'If I even survive. I might just die, you know.' I didn't dare to make any plans. -
Agnes
from The Hague, Netherlands
There is no bigger fear than the fear of facing the same awful road my mom had gone down during my teenage years. -
Mary Ann Wasil
from Milford, Conn.
We eat ice cream for breakfast, stay up all night watching junky television, talk about what I want them to tell their children about me one day. -
Rebecca Roush
from Seattle, Wash.
I won't believe I'm truly free of cancer until I die of something else. -
Steph G.
from Toronto, Canada
Every day when I can feel like a "normal" 20-something is a blessing. -
Denise
from Santa Cruz, Calif.
People really get uncomfortable. They want a cheerful survivor. A grateful survivor. They don't appreciate the dark humor, the anger, the sadness and fear. -
Dr. Cheri Moore
from Arlington, Tex.
I lost my hair during the treatment, my job, my sense of who I was and my beautiful shape. I tell people that 'My girls are gone but I am still here."' -
Gigi Pandian
from El Cerrito, Calif.
You learn that your writers group understands what's important when they come up with the idea to have a wig-shopping party to turn losing your hair into a fun experience. -
Helenchen
from San Francisco, Calif.
We continued a long distance relationship during these big decisions, but his unwillingness to move got to be too much. We ended our relationship six months later. -
Aparna
from Chandler, India
She felt weird facing people, thinking children find her funny and people find her strange. She was darker than before, she was bald. It has left a lingering fear. -
Nare
from Colombo, Sri Lanka
Seeing my mother face what has been the toughest time of our lives, with such poise, strength, grace and bravery, has inspired me. -
Dianne S.
from Austin, Tex.
What I could not have anticipated was how the people in my life would rally around me and my family and support us through this ordeal. -
Noemi Meneguzzo
from Vicenza, Italy
I'm living, and every day I can recognize some gifts from my cancer. I made an art exhibition about Cancer and Femininity. -
CarolineD
from Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
Seven months after the suicide of my only daughter, I was diagnosed with self-discovered ER/PR positive breast cancer. -
Yvonne Hughes
from Sydney, Australia
I was a 37-year-old mother of one when I was diagnosed. It was two months after our wedding. -
Susannah Breslin
from Chicago, Ill.
I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in November 2011. I was shopping at Costco with my husband when I got the call. We had been married for four days. -
Angie Jennings and Krista
from Kansas City, Mo.
Krista was a customer of mine who just after diagnosis went in search of someone to photograph her “before” portrait. I agreed. -
Eva Bacigalova
from Bratislava, Slovakia
With a smile on his face, he sent me home with the conclusion that there is no reason for panic. He is a man in a white coat. He probably knows what he is talking about. -
Sarah
from Great Falls, Va.
I have anger each time I see my Frankenstein body. -
Judy
from London, Ontario, Canada
I felt angry, ashamed, foolish, depressed and wished I could crawl in a hole and disappear. -
Chrissie
from London, United Kingdom
My mum mentioned to me that my brother found it very hard to look at me without getting upset. -
Presbyteros
from Glassboro, N.J.
My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Most of the late spring and summer have been taken up by surgery and chemo. -
Trisha P.
from Manchester, N.H.
I remember finding her curled up on her closet floor, crying, hiding the pain from her husband and child, so they didn't have to bear the burden of her journey. -
Michele Turner
from San Francisco, Calif.
The healing process demands one to let go of every single aspect of body, ego, perceived certainty and cell. -
Nathalie W.
from Chicago, Ill.
I feel as though my time will come given the proximity of breast cancer on both sides of my family. -
Alma Busby-Williams
from Walnut Creek, Calif.
My mother largely ignored my diagnosis because to her I had not experienced the 'true breast cancer experience.' -
Jules Lewis
from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
In 2012, I took the first and only team of breast cancer survivors from the U.A.E. to Antarctica for an 11-day multiactivity challenge. -
Jay Kallio
from New York, N.Y.
In his words, he had "a problem with your transgender status," and "I don't even know what to call you. My first thought was to send you to psychiatry" instead of removing the aggressive, HER2 positive cancer, multiplying rapidly in my chest. -
Sister
from Jerusalem, Israel
Breast cancer is a thief! First it took my breast, then my general health. Then it took the simple pleasures. -
Catherine Gigante-Brown
from Brooklyn, N.Y.
You can’t imagine living through this. Maybe that’s why you’re so nice, so supportive. -
Melody
from London, United Kingdom
I was 14 when my mother first received a diagnosis of breast cancer, and 19 when she died. At the funeral, people would come to offer their -
Sylvia Shepard
from Lakeland, Fla.
People talk a lot and try to sympathize and relate to you. The truth is you never know what it's like until it happens to you. -
Jargalbuyan
from Praha, Czech Republic
Then suddenly into the operating room, like something out of 'Star Wars,' comes my surgeon, with a sudden fierce look in his eyes. -
Nicolle D. Surratte
from New Castle, Del.
My "pink sea" journey began in June 2011. I placed my medical care in the hands of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. -
LeahaBP
from New Hamburg, Canada
So many women who've experienced breast cancer come out stronger and more passionate about life. I wish I could say the same for myself. -
thedailyathlete
from Albuquerque, N.M.
I'm still the beast I always was, running farther distances, lifting heavier weight, meeting the next challenge, remaining curious about myself and each experience. -
GUEWAGRAM
from Paris, France
My husband is faithful and helpful. My sons do their best, but I want the three of them to think I am fine. My friends are -
C.S. Klein
from Reston, Va.
Having cancer gave me a backbone. Before my diagnoses, I was nice and compliant and always trying to please. 'No' was rarely in my vocabulary. Now I push back. -
Mawyl
from St Jean de Niost, France
I was ready to face surgery, and I asked for a double mastectomy. I said goodbye to my 40DD breasts with no emotion. -
Lisa
from Delray Beach, Fla.
As a single mom, I knew that I had not only a physical battle ahead, but an emotional one as well. I wanted to be around as long as possible for my 8-year-old daughter. -
Michelle Pammenter Young
from Brackendale, Canada
My mother learned she had cancer two months after I did, and after seeing what I went through with chemotherapy she decided not to fight her disease. -
Diane A
from Glenpool, Okla.
I’ve found my forever love. It took me 45 years and overcoming a lot of crazy life situations, including cancer, but we’re together now. -
CelticRainbow
from San Diego, Calif.
I have a lump that is visible to me. I am uninsurable. I have to wait until Obama Care before I can get coverage. -
WellnessCoach
from Sheboygan, Wis.
After hearing my mother tell me she had learned she had cancer, it left me feeling very empty. -
Karen C.
from Castro Valley, Calif.
As I was going to medical school, my plastic and reconstructive surgeon took note and, lucky for me, he needed an employee. -
Elizabeth from Ottawa
from Ottawa, Canada
I am so lucky to be Canadian; I paid nothing and got the best treatment. -
DeAnna Rice
from Laguna Hills, Calif.
I made very poor choices during the years after my first diagnosis. I ruined my family. -
Deborah Silberberg
from Oakland, Calif.
I look in the mirror 18 months after diagnosis and I see loss etched on my face. -
Akhila
from Hyderabad, India
After surgery when mom was still unconscious, I couldn’t help noticing the determined look on her face. -
Iris
from Clifton, N.J.
My world spun out of control. My first words were, 'What do I tell my children?' -
jlem
from jerusalem, Israel
Three months later, I am engaged, planning a wedding, and I still haven't looked. I don't know if I can. -
Norma Seegal
from Hollywood, Fla.
People I thought would provide emotional support didn't. I took a taxi to both mastectomies. I went to doctors appointments on my own. -
Adrienne H
from Potomac, Miss.
Outraged at such a stupid comment from the head of the practice, I found my own surgeon. -
Michael Samuelson
from Canton, Mich.
I look in the mirror and there it is. A diagonal line, about eight inches. It stretches from my right armpit to my sternum. It’s always there. -
Kimberly Brooks
from South Salem, N.Y.
At the time of my breast cancer diagnosis, I was 34 years- old and a single mother. -
Tulla
from Melbourne, Australia
I realized that I am an optimist, and I am thinking positively with regard to the outcome of my illness. Can one really afford to do anything else? -
alf
from Oshksoh, Wis.
I have obvious scarring from radiation burns, but I almost never succumb to the urge I sometimes feel to hide the scar. -
Linda
from Virginia Beach, Va.
If I have any hope for something positive to come from my experience, it would be that my friends and family have a better awareness of the risk of breast cancer. -
Phe
from Dallas, Tex.
I think we romanticize breast cancer, that it can change your life or make you a better person. It has just made me very angry. -
Kelly
from Dunwoody, Ga.
For a school of approximately 1,000 students, I was the third cancer diagnosis in one week. -
Elizabeth Belson
from New York, N.Y.
When she passed away after her own long struggle with the disease, it was like someone rolled over my heart with a steam roller. -
Stacey
from Catlin, Ill.
It is difficult to know when to stop working. When to sell my house. When to go to the attorney to make my will. When to plan my funeral. -
Amirah Amir
from Malaysia, Malaysia
This is a story about someone I love who had breast cancer: my mom. She lost her battle two years ago. I still say I love her, not loved. -
amandanxn
from San Diego, Calif.
Ten days after my diagnosis, I started chemotherapy. I was 27 years old. All of my hair fell out about three weeks later. -
Vera K.
from Santa Clarita, Calif.
My students saw me battle the cancer and do well which encouraged them; they had relatives who were also fighting, and it gave them hope. -
Susie
from North Salem, N.Y.
When I was 23, within a span of two weeks my mother and sister were diagnosed with breast cancer. -
Ronda
from Orem
Over our back door we have the phrase, 'Go out for adventure, come home for love.' -
hargettmom3
from Gastonia, N.C.
My mom was diagnosed at 41 passed at 42. I had the BRCA test done only to discover I was positive for breast cancer genes. -
Susan Finkelstein
from New York, N.Y.
I fight like hell every single day. I lie awake, sleepless, almost every night. -
Zoe
from London, United Kingdom
I found a lump in my breast earlier this year while breast-feeding my baby. -
Teresa
from Billings, Mont.
My mantra is 'first a survivor, now a thriver!' -
Mark and Debbie Brodinsky
from Owings Mills, Miss.
The cancer brought our family closer during the procedure, and helped me as a spouse be in tune with the illness and my wife's unbelievable strength to overcome. -
Mary Ann
from Wilmington, N.C.
I was reluctant to do the BRCA test after my sister's diagnosis of breast cancer. I was not sure I wanted to know if I was positive -
Amy
from Alexandria, Va.
I used to cry when I looked at pictures of myself from my wedding and at the woman who did not have any clue of what was coming down the bend. -
Delia
from Melbourne, Australia
I now lobby for open debate about the consequences of rapidly and secretly privatizing health care in Australia. -
Michelle Yong
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I believe my daily qi qong practice has helped in lessening the side effects of my treatment. -
Jonathan
from Boca Raton, Fla.
I found the hard tumor while showering. My wife and I knew right away that I had won the bad lottery. -
doggedone
from Mobile, Ala.
In spite of the statistics that say that one woman in eight will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her life, you never feel you're going to be that one. -
Sandra Elliott
from Claremont, Calif.
I joke that I got breast cancer for my 50th birthday. -
joeyann
from Houston, Tex.
I was 33 years old and 29 weeks pregnant with my second child when I was diagnosed with the most fatal type of breast cancer. -
Molly
from Newington, Conn.
My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 46 years old. She had a mastectomy and exactly a year later had a second mastectomy. -
Amy Kinard
from Lexington, S.C.
We named our group 'The Ta-tinis.' It was a collaborative name we made up while drinking martinis, talking about our ta-tas. -
Melanie Smith
from Harlingen, Tex.
'This is doable' became our motto. Surgery? It's doable! Four months of chemo? That's doable! Radiation? Doable! -
Carla
from Peru
Arriving home and having my family see me for the first time with a bald head was one of the hardest moments in my life. -
Liliana Komorowska
from Montreal, Canada
I am a Polish-Canadian actress, living in Montreal, and my story with breast cancer originates with the creation of a film, 'Beauty and the Breast.' -
unf15
from Jacksonville, Fla.
Cancer. A word I have heard in the classroom, at seminars, and at Relay for Life events over the years. -
Rebecca Soulliere
from Leominster, Mass.
I decided to place my life and my unborn child’s life into the hands of these trained medical professionals. I was absolutely terrified. -
Sofia
from Орел, Russian Federation
I was there, at nights when I heard her crying, swallowing my own tears out of the realization that I was no help. -
Ann M
from Westbury, N.Y.
I find it to be a cynical approach to say that women shouldn't have mammograms because statistically it won't make a difference. -
Mike Pohlman
from Bellingham, Wash.
Julia Pohlman was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer four years ago. I have the honor of being her husband. -
Michele
from Cleveland
There are unique concerns in the orthodox community that are finally being discussed. I had a parlor meeting in my community with over 100 orthodox women in attendance. -
Maria Freed
from Miami, Fla.
Cancer runs in my maternal family. Breast, ovarian, cervical, bone metastases have affected many women of the Rodriguez clan. -
The Breast Cancer Warrior, Beverly McKee
from St. Louis, Mo.
My name is Beverly McKee, but most people know me as the Breast Cancer Warrior. -
Nikki Weiss-Goldstein
from Los Angeles, Calif.
I had a 3-month-old baby and my father-in-law was losing his 17-year brave battle with prostate cancer. -
Lajja Nayyar
from Dehradun, India
A chilly winter morning of January 2013 brought an unimaginable cold wave in my house. My husband got diagnosed with esophageal cancer. -
Angeline
from Los Angeles, Calif.
I am now filled with gratitude for my body's ability to accomplish the mundane. -
Sarah Abelsohn
from San Diego, Calif.
I was two years old when I was introduced to this world of breast cancer. That is when my mother found her first lump, and we had no idea -
Deb B.
from Cary, N.C.
I had cancer related fatigue and was bone weary exhausted. My spouse kept saying I had changed and was not the woman he had married. -
Riosspr
from Rincon, Puerto Rico
Fourteen days after the surgery, I went surfing with the surgeon's consent. -
jennywit
from Fairfield, Conn.
It has been exactly a year since I, voluntarily at age 30, had my boobs chopped off. -
Chrissy
from London, United Kingdom
I worked throughout my treatment and wanted to have some form of normality during those hard months. -
Amy
from Huntsville, Ala.
I am positive, happy and laughing through cancer! -
Bob in MN
from Edina, Minn.
My favorite response to the question 'What do you think when you see my scar?' was a husband who said, 'I see life.' -
Rasha
from Geneva, Switzerland
I was not surprised to find out I had breast cancer in 2003. Although I was only 35 and my doctor told me I was too young -
Bob DeVito
from Waterbury, Conn.
I heard those dreaded words: 'It's not good news. You have cancer.' Even though I was the only child of a breast cancer survivor, I never thought I could get breast cancer as a male. -
Catherine
from Moscow, Russian Federation
A really rude radiologist told me I just needed to get familiar with the 'umpy, bumpy girls.' -
Iris
from Philadelphia, Pa.
There are three words that a woman doesn't want to hear: 'You have cancer.' -
jennyjenny
from Dunkirk, Miss.
It's what I focus on, the steady rhythm of my hands, the twist of the wrist, the tug of wool. -
Sara Fortune Robison
from Liberty, Mo.
After my breast cancer treatments and doctor’s visits were essentially over, I was depressed and felt abandoned. -
Inés
from Barcelona, Spain
I was 21 the first time I noticed a lump in my right breast. I thought breast cancer was an illness for older women. -
Casey
from Milton, Mass.
I was diagnosed at 30. The night I first discovered the lumps, I immediately thought I was dying, but then I thought, 'That can't be, I'm too young.' -
Caren Helene Rudman
from Highland Park, Ill.
How was I able to help so many women, but not my own sister? -
Esther Hereijgers
from Breda, Netherlands
I photograph women before their operation, during the journey or when they have finished treatment. I find it very nice to be able to help to show that they are still beautiful! -
Vonda D.
from Surrey, B.C., Canada
I love my job, and my boss was very understanding, so I could work as much or as little as I wanted. -
Melissa
from New York, N.Y.
I didn’t know how to take care of myself in the beginning, but with the help of one incredible gynecologist who simply said, 'What if this was your daughter? What would you do?' She struck a cord. -
Caroline
from Dallas, Ga.
When I was about to deliver my son, a family member whom I was very close to was diagnosed with breast cancer. There it was. That moment. Cancer! -
Amy Kieffer
from Pikeville, Tenn.
Making heroes of women (or men) who get breast cancer seems to me the height of irony. Early but aggressive breast cancer was found in a routine mammogram in 1998. A first lumpectomy lacked clean margins, required a second surg Making heroes of women (or men) who get breast cancer seems to me the height of irony. -
AmandaJane
from Boston, Mass.
When life actually hits you in the face and makes you stop everything, all your plans, all your dreams, I found there is no quote for that, just flashes of light, faces, with no sense of beginning, middle or end. -
Lisa Rafferty
from Scituate, Mass.
A friend and fellow survivor asked if I had ever thought about writing funny about breast cancer. Had I? I couldn’t respond fast enough: Yes, let’s do this thing! -
Millie
from Mill Valley, Calif.
I also had a very positive experience with Penguin Cold Caps which allowed me to save my hair during my chemotherapy treatment. -
Mary Ann O'Rourke
from Barrington, Ill.
I don't know where to go, what to do. I can't move backward or forward. I'm trapped inside a body that I'm certain is killing me. -
Kim
from Bay Saint Louis, Miss.
My reconstructed breast resembled an ugly kneecap and I was mortified the first time I was going to be naked in front of him. -
Adrian B. McClenney
from Miami, Fla.
I was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer after being misdiagnosed for a little over five months. Being persistent and knowing my body saved my life.
