Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

Below is the Houston Chronicle Article that I was interviewed for. Kim did a great job and I am thankful to have been included. The options a woman has today are amazing but without proper information it can be disastrous. I know it is hard to believe that it has been 32 months since I lost my breast. It seems a world away actually. Life has moved on, and I have adjusted to living life as it is. The chemo is behind me, I have been in remission for 2 years and so it would seem the breast reconstruction would be also. Truth be told, I am still caught somewhere in the middle of that process all this time later. I have lived too long in this in between state. Not a uniboob so to speak but not quite a two wheeler either. When I started down this road I was not properly informed. I was thrown into the process and then left "as is" because of the mighty dollar in all honesty. I wasn't told that I would have to come back in 10 years to have my implant replaced, or that silicone w...

I just wanted to share this with everyone as we go into the weekend. Below is a link to a recent article I was asked to write for http://www.fightpink.org/ and a second link to the fightpink.org monthly report. I am blessed to have been given this second chance at life and this crazy opportunity to share my story with others. Thank you all for blessing my life with your friendships... Christina Making Good On My Promise The Fight Pink™ Report - October, 2008

As a young woman I didn't think too much about breast cancer. I figured that I would deal with it when I was older. I had time to figure it all out later, right? Well later came much sooner than I expected. Twenty came, and so did 30 yet I was young, not nearly old enough to battle breast cancer. How wrong I was! So I was in shock when I felt a lump in my breast. I was in even more shock when at 32 years old I was heard the words breast cancer as my own personal diagnosis. Suddenly breast cancer was bidding for an up close and personal relationship with me. Breast Cancer? Someone had to be kidding right? No, no one was pulling my leg. I was too young. I was not ready to succumb to life with breast cancer, not at 32 years old. I wasn't ready to have my breast removed and thrown in the waste basket along with my chest wall. I mean that is exactly what happened. No, I wasn't ready to have the plastic surgeon inject 100 plus cc's of saline into my expander twice a week. Tha...

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As AOL begins to close down it's bloggs, my heart is heavy. I am saddened by this turn in events because I feel as if I am losing part of my family. A vital and truly the strongest part of who I am and have become. Without you my dear family in J Land, I would have given up writing and never come back to it. But with your love, encouragement, inspiration and gentle nudges I have found my true voice. I love each and everyone of you. When I first starTed posting I truly never meant for anything I had to say to be public. By mistake my journal ended up public and thank God it did! Without that little mistake I would have never met Kim. In her strength, I found my own. I miss her everyday. But I know she is still with us as I feel her vitality and hunger for life burn inside my own heart everyday. I am conflicted as what to do with my journal. I am still a bit torn and so I ask this of all of dear family here in J Land... Would it be easier to stay in touch with all of you if I move t...

Breast Cancer changes everything. Breast Cancer changes your life, your body and your idea of what is important and what is not. After living 1 year without a breast and another with an implant I can tell you that your choices become complicated. Go forward and complete the transformation or just let it all go? Live without a breast, have what was started removed or just be comfortable in the body that breast cancer has left you with? Honestly it is not an easy decision. I thought it was when I first lost my breast. At 32 I surely didn't want to live without what God gave me, what made me womanly and what I thought made me beautiful. But after living through the removal of my breast and simply living without hair in a world that measures you by both, I think that I am ok with just one breast. It feels like an eternity since I first started the process of breast reconstruction. Today I am living with a partially reconstructed breast. Money and insurance have been two of my top probl...

October is here and that means Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So what does that mean to you? Do you put on your pink and think happy thoughts? Do you cry when you watch the ads or turn away tired of the hoopla? Well, I can say I have seen and heard many different responses over the last 2 and a half years. Some have been inspired while others have been annoyed. But first I would say that before February 2006 I would have just thought to myself that I had time to think about the Cause. All that changed for me when at 32 years old I was diagnosed with TN Breast Cancer. Who would have thought? I sure hadn't. But the truth is this... Breast Cancer knows no boundaries. This disease attacks when you are least expecting it. Breast Cancer is not just a once a year thing, a nice cause wrapped up in a pretty pink ribbon. No, it is a beast, with large pointed teeth and sharp claws! I wear my pink ribbons and think pink all through the year. But I know that the pretty symbol is just that, a pr...