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get tested

It was some years ago, about fifty years, I guess. I was just fifteen and was taking a hunter's safety course. The instructor was a friend and coworker of my dad’s. The course was six weeks long. I don’t remember the instructors name for sure, but I think it was Ken. The classes were held at his house the other side of town. There was a girl there that was a year younger than me and we became good friends, she was Ken daughter.  You may be asking why I am writing about this, well it was the first time I heard of breast cancer. You see Ken’s wife had it. Jolene the girl I spoke of was having a hard time with the facts of her mother’s cancer.

Jolene was doing all the stuff her mother had been doing, cooking and taking care of the house and her brothers and sister, she was the oldest. She had a problem with getting close to her mom she was afraid she would get the cancer from her and she did not like getting a hug or giving one to her mother. Her mother was just home from the hospital after having her breast removed; Jolene said her mom was a freak, and was not her mom any more.  

I tried to understand what this was all about ken wife was a friendly and loving person I could not see there was anything wrong with her. She looked ok to me. Jolene and I talk at length about what she was feeling and I learn what I could about breast cancer. The last week of the course kin’s wife died, the cancer took her.

Back then breast cancer was a death sentence, a person who had breast cancer was looked upon as not being a whole person and that they had did something wrong. Breast cancer was not talked about in polite company or publicly; many people thought of breast cancer as it were a venereal disease.  It was also conceder as a woman problem and somehow she was not clean.

Thank god that this is not the way of today early detection means survival and long life. But we need to do more to arrest a killer. Getting tested regularly, monthly self exams for both men and women is the way to save lives. Learn to do the self exam and if you have a partner do it on each other can be a fun loving moment.

Here are my pick for today:

Jenni De La Torre http://forjenssake.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/breast-cancer-awareness-month-theres-a-lump-in-my-breast/

Some real stories http://www.breasthealthga.org/Education_Program/Material/Bells/hosting/Bellsbulletin-story.pdf

Dr Elaine Lee Wade http://www.northshore.org/communityandevents/chat.aspx?id=6004&chat_id=15

Please put Jenni De La Torre in your prayers.

Thank you for coming by. Get tested and educate yourself about breast cancer. God bless