A Womans Heart

This is a story written by a dear friend of mine. A dear friend who is a survivor of breast cancer. An inspiring, beautiful, strong woman who is always willing to share her story so that others might be inspired to get checked and do self exams. Its important to catch it early, she caught it early and I could not be more grateful to have her in my life! This amazing woman's name is Bobbi Abplanalp. Take care of yourself because there will always be people who will be grateful that you are living, get a mammogram and always be aware of changes its important because your important!

"Imagine a woman’s heart. It must be as vast as the universe to hold the deepest and most cherished moments that only a woman can experience. Imagine her heart beat supporting not only herself but that of an unborn child. Imagine her heart shattering upon the loss of her youth to a man that simply stole it....imagine her putting her heart back together, just to be broken again.There are some holes from the missing pieces, but it helps her inner light shine through. Imagine that heart being torn from her chest and beaten down and cut with it’s own shards. She finds the pieces and gathers what little she has left. Imagine that this woman’s heart will only be stronger and fight harder for her. The fight has just begun, this woman’s heart with all it’s scars and holes will pump the poison thru her veins that will save her life. She told me they don’t tell you that you have cancer, they ask you this question, “Do you have someone here with you?” Yes, yes i do... she is with me...yes i know...yes i have breast cancer. She calls my husband. She holds me. A piece of her woman’s heart fits perfectly into mine. Always. I am diagnosed. I’m feeling guilty, scared and pissed off. I am numb, until they do the biopsy..ouch. I am scared, until my husband gets there. I cry. I do what needs to be done. I laugh. I work. I cry in the tub. I swear. I swear again. I pray. I am cut, I am sliced and I’m stitched. I wake up. I am happy that I woke up, now I can fight. I am alive, I go home. I let my husband play doctor. I can’t look. He sees me. I look at whats left. I see love in my husbands eyes. I heal. I am poisoned. I am tired. I am grateful. I am embarrassed that my hair doesn’t fall out. I am grateful my hair doesn’t fall out. My son brushes my hair...now i know why my hair doesn’t fall out. I am tired. I sleep. I love. I heal. I am radiated. I listen to music. I walk fast. I take my kids to the park. I am going to be a grandmother. I burn. I feel strong. I really burn. I see my red skin. I see my skin peel off. I keep walking fast. I heal. I am reconstructed. I am disappointed. I am getting stronger. I let my husband play doctor. I look at whats left. I see love in his eyes. I love. I heal. I am recovering. I get mad. I get sad. I get glad. I feel blessed. I cry. I love. I see love reflected. I love some more. I live. I feel. I heal."

This Woman's Work

Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I don't know about you, but I am a huge So You Think You Can Dance fan. Last season Tyce Diorio, one of the awesome choreographers on the show, created this dance in behalf of a friend of his who struggled with breast cancer. Ade, the man in the dance, represented a friend or support throughout the struggle. I had the opportunity to see this dance live at the SYTYCD tour just this month. It is a very inspiring and touching dance. This dance shows the struggle many women go through each year in their battle against breast cancer. The need for help, the frustration, and the pain all wrapped up in a beautiful and strong woman. Enjoy!

Breast Self Exams

My sister learned something new that I want to share. She went in for her yearly check-up at the doctor and during the breast exam she asked what she should be looking for. His response was... "nothing." The point of a self exam is for you to become familiar with your own breasts. You should be watching for lumps, bumps, or any change. If you think about it, doctors feel thousands of breasts all the time and they probably won't remember if yours change! Do your self exams. If you have any questions, go to the Susan G Komen website. There is a great video there to show you exactly how to do it. Click HERE to go straight to the site.

Survival Rates

Over the past 30 years, survivor rates have improved. If detected early there is a 98% survival rate for breast cancer. I cannot stress enough the importance of self exams and mammograms. If not for yourself, please do it for your loved ones.

Studio 5

On Studio 5 yesterday, they said Utah is the second to lowest state for people that get mammograms!!! That is terrible. We need to improve those odds. Have you made your appointment yet? Have you done a self breast exam lately? Take the precautions necessary to save your life. Don't think that just because your family doesn't have a history of breast cancer that it won't happen to you. It can be cured, but it needs to be detected early! So make that appointment.

Passionately Pink Party

If you downloaded the calendar i sent you, October 11 had a great idea. Go to PassionatelyPink.org and register to have a party to raise money for breast cancer awareness. You can totally dress in pink crazy outfits, honor a survivor, and have a great time. Go check out the website, it could be so much fun!

Mammogram Anyone?

Have you gotten a mammogram yet? If you havent pick up the phone right now and make an appointment! The results might seem frightening, or it might cost too much, it might be uncomfortable, you might have a busy schedule, there are so many rationalizations that you can create but the truth is there is a way around all of it!
It might cost too much, but part of the cost is usually covered by health insurance or Medicare. If it isn't, call Susan G. Komen’s Cure’s Breast Care Helpline at 1-800-I’M AWARE (1-800-462-9273). It might be an uncomfortable thats true, but the entire process only lasts twenty minutes. Yes you might be busy, but who isn't? Are you too busy to try something that could save your life? The results may seem scary yes, but it could mean the difference between life and death!
There isn't much you can do to prevent breast cancer, but the sooner you find it the better your chances of living a full life, don't you care enough about yourself to do that? Don't be fooled thinking only women need checked, men get breast cancer too! Men get yourself checked, its a lot more common than you think. So, would you rather be too embarrased to get a mammogram and risk your life, or would you rather be embarrased for a couple minutes to save your life? Of course the choice is yours, but I know for myself I would rather just be on the safe side and get a mammogram!!

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Have you had a mammogram lately? How about self exams. Do yourself a favor and get it done. You will be glad you did. There is a cool video on the Susan G Komen site about self breast exams called Breast Self Awareness. There is even a quiz at the end!

National Breast Cancer Awareness month

A Fun Easy Way to Help

So my sister found this cool website the other day that is something simple, fun, and easy that everyone can do. For each test drive of a Ford, the Ford Company will donate 20 bucks to the Susan G Komen foundation. The link is http://www.komenslc.org/ if you just scroll down to the bottom, you can see a chart of all the participating dealerships. Of course none are in the basin where I live, but many people travel out of the basin and can take 20 minutes to test drive a car and Ford will donate money. Just do it, its so easy and it is a way to help. Im definitly going to test drive a few!