Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 'There Is Hope After A Breast Cancer Diagnosis'
by: Eloise Caggiano
Nobody wants to have breast cancer. It's terrible. One day you feel great, and the next day you're suddenly being asked to make all of these life-changing decisions that you know will make you feel physically terrible! No one wants to have five surgeries. No one wants to have months of chemotherapy. But you go ahead and you make these decisions that will change the way your body looks forever and will make your hair fall out, because you have to. Because even though you don't want to do any of these awful things, you WANT to live and be healthy and happy and beat the crap out of cancer. You have to fight.
I was a 33-year-old woman living in New York City with great friends and an active social life, a successful career in public relations, two marathons under my belt and a gym membership card tattered from over-use. All was well in my world. Then I received my breast cancer diagnosis and everything changed. My life was consumed with fighting breast cancer. And I was worried that I didn't personally have what it would take to pull this off. I remember thinking "Oh man, I really hope I can do this."
I guess you never truly know what you are capable of until you are faced with a challenge like this. I got through my breast cancer battle and if I may say so, I did it fairly well. It wasn't easy -- there were very tough moments, both emotionally and physically -- but thankfully my surgeries and treatments all went as smoothly as they could and I was surrounded by the love of my family and friends. You learn so much about yourself and what you are capable of. The amazing support and encouragement I got from others was so important, but physically I was the one going through it all. So when I came out on the other side as a survivor, I was pretty darn impressed that I was able to do it.
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