Tag: The American Cancer Society

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The Choice is Yours

I recently read a post on BET.com that really got under my skin. The article is entitled “Cancer Survivor Featured in Beyonce’s Lemonade Faces Backlash After Details of Her Medical History Don’t Add Up.” (horrible title)

The article is about Paulette Leaphart from Biloxi, Mississippi. Ms. Leaphart was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and underwent a double Mastectomy to rid her of the terrible disease.

Ms. Leaphart had a 0.7 centimeter cancerous tumor in her right breast and one of six sentinel lymph nodes removed tested positive for cancer.

The article (click here to read) insinuates that a double mastectomy wasn’t needed because Ms. Leaphart only had cancer in one breast. As a survivor, I have a problem with this assumption. Cancer is cancer, no matter the size of the tumor. Once a lymph node is affected, there’s a strong probability that the disease will spread to other areas of your body.

I applaud Ms. Leaphart for taking such an aggressive approach. My largest tumor was a little bigger than hers but my lymph nodes weren’t involved so I chose a less invasive option. I am constantly nagged by the worry of reoccurrence but I trust God with my life.
When I first found out that I had cancer, I immediately thought of my daughter and I’m sure Ms. Leaphart did too.

If you’ve never been faced with choosing between a lumpectomy, mastectomy or double mastectomy, your voice should remain silent about the choices that someone else chooses to fight for their life.

Day 22 Trusting Gods Plan

PeaceMode,

Melissa

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Is there Peace in the Present Moment 

20170413_105212Why is it that people always advise you to live in the present moment?

Sometimes our present situations are scary. If you’ve ever experienced a true crisis, you probably wanted to think about anything other than those circumstances.

What about those seasons in life that seem to never have an expiration date, like the time when I finalized a divorce and was diagnosed with cancer within a two week time period and lost my job while going through treatments. All three of those challenges were my present moment and that sh*t was horrible. I wanted to think about anything other than my reality.

I know we can’t completely check out of life when we experience hard times but I do believe we have to narrow our vision and focus on getting through the storm to actually progress through it.

The thing that kept me focused on rising above divorce and fighting cancer was a simple Bible verse. Luke 1:45 “Blessed is she who believes that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.”  From God’s word I know that he’s promised long life, good health and a sound mind. In order to take hold of those blessings I had to narrow my vision, limit my conversations and focus my mind on being well physically, mentally and emotionally

Almost two years later and I can appreciate my experiences, learn from them and move on.

Hmm, if it wasn’t for my divorce I would have never fallen in love with myself and discovered my unique flavor of love. Now a days if I’m not working out or trying a new vegetarian or vegan dish, I’m spending time with people who truly love me or I’m participating in activities and events that serve a higher purpose than myself.

I don’t know what crisis or challenge you may be navigating through right now but my advice to you is acknowledge your current situation and get ready to kick, claw and fight your way into a new reality. Sometimes the peaceful have to fight too.💖

PeaceMode,

Melissa

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There’s No Other Way to Explain My Pink

 Luke 8:10 NKJV – And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.

On Tuesday, October 20, 2015, The American Cancer Society changed its breast cancer screening guidelines to begin screening woman on an annual basis at age 45 instead of age 40. Their website states that these guidelines were put in place to detect breast cancer early and when treatment can be most effective (www.cancer.org).

I’ve read the statistics of breast cancer diagnosis by age and I agree that in the past most new cases of breast cancer have occurred in older women. There has been an increase in women being diagnosed at an earlier age.

My concern is that this new guideline doesn’t take into account the thousands of women who are under the age of 45 that are diagnosed yearly with these ugly disease. Marketers dress breast cancer awareness swag in pink to make it appear more appealing, but there is nothing pretty about this disease.

I was inducted into the “Hall of Pink” in April of this year. In my case there wasn’t a sign or a symptom, there was simply a suggestion and yes that suggestion came straight from God.  I was 39, recently divorced and trying to establish a new sense of normalcy for my life. As I went about my normal, daily activities, God spoke clearly to me and said; “Melissa, go get a mammogram.” I didn’t hesitate and because of my act of trust, the cancer was found very early and it has been removed. I now try to live each day more aware of the power that is available to me when I trust God and believe that his words for my life are true.

So that is my story but for many others it doesn’t happen that way. Many women and men walk around with no symptoms of breast cancer, although the disease may already be attacking their body. African-American women under the age of 45 are more likely to get the disease and die from it than any other female ethnic group.

With as much fundraising and research taking place because of this disease, I don’t understand why the screening guidelines would move in a direction opposite of the increasing number of women who need to be screened. It would seem that more would be done to catch it early with the hope of eventually eliminating it. Delay the screening means delaying diagnosis.

As a society, we have to become our own advocates. It’s vital that we eat healthy, exercise and take an active part in managing our health care needs. I highly recommend the book, The Cancer Prevention Diet by Michio Kushi.

Be well and stay in peace!