Thursday, November 29, 2007

I am thankful for....


I have made it through another September.
September is the most difficult month, and the start of the most difficult time of year for me. September 29 was two years since my mother passed away.

Mom loved the holidays and always made them so special for all of us. She always cooked Thanksgiving dinner at her house and we would all be there together. Christmas was wonderful too. She cooked a wonderful dinner, and we all exchanged gifts.

There were always piles of gifts. She would find something that she had to have for one of her kids or grandkids,then she would have to buy something else for all the rest, because she never wanted to do more for one than all the others. We always told her that we didn't care about those things, but she always insisted.

Truth be told she just loved to do things for all of us.

Each year at this time, these memories, and more, come flooding back to me. It's painful, but not quite as painful as in the past two years. Now I am finding more comfort in her memories, and smiling more when I remember..

I am so thankful that she was my mom, and I have these wonderful memories of her. I am also thankful, that because of her, I discovered my high risk for cancer, and was able to lower that risk tremendously.

I am thankful for people like this; FORCE and this; Loreal Color of Hope , who educate women about their risks,and raise money for research to delete this horrible disease that steals away our mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, daughters...

This holiday season, take care of yourselves, and give yourself or a loved one the gift of knowledge.

Knowledge is very powerful.....

(written September of 2005) I have learned much in the last nine months. I have read that ovarian cancer whispers. I say it screams. It just needs someone to listen. The American Cancer Society statistics for ovarian cancer estimate that there will be 22,220 new cases and 16,210 deaths in 2005. This is a death rate FOUR TIMES that of breast cancer.Almost 70 percent of women with the common epithelial ovarian cancer are not diagnosed until the disease is advanced in stage. The 5-year survival rate for these women is only 15 to 20 percent. This is unacceptable. Women need to be made more aware of the symptoms, and doctors need to listen to their patients. Especially when the patient tells them that they fear they have ovca, as my mother did for almost a year before she was finally diagnosed. It’s so sad and senseless when a woman knows the symptoms but can’t get anyone to listen to what she is saying.

©JsDaughter