My 30th birthday occurred last October. I didn't think of it in the same way as many people do. Friends have mentioned they thought it was the termination of youth, the beginning of real adulthood or the beginning of the end of a carefree lifestyle. We all make choices with what we do with our lives. Chances are if you are really deep-down unhappy about something like your age, you're distain for life is a lot deeper than that.
My Aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 30 years old. She had a 4-year-old son and a newborn son at the time of her diagnosis. Instead of thinking about wrinkles, cellulite and disappearing youth at 30, I was thinking about her.
They would grow up without her. She died before her 32nd birthday in October of 1984, 18 months after diagnosis. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation couldn't stop the march of cancer through her body.
She was my father's sister. He died in 1983 in an auto accident, very shortly before her diagnosis. Losing his little sister under those circumstances would have crushed my father. My Mother and I went to visit her, her family and my grandparents in the spring of 1984.
My Aunt was still working full time at a bakery so she could collect her health insurance. She even worked through her chemo treatments and through a broken sternum. Her bones were so brittle, it just snapped.
I don't recall a whole lot of detail from the trip, I was 8 years old. One overheard conversation sticks with me though. My mother LaRita and aunt Glenda were on the back of a horse. They were riding at sunset. Spring in Texas can be very green and beautiful. Mom recalled they had to get a ladder to get her on the horse because she was too weak to climb on its back by herself.
My aunt plainly said, "You are here to visit me because you think I'm going to die" .
My mother replied, "No, I am here to visit WITH you. If you die, I will say I have visited with you. If you live, then I will come and visit you again."
My Mom hasn't been back to Texas or on the back of another horse.
Breast cancer in women under 40 is less common and treatments have advanced considerably since 1984. These new treatments may not have saved my Aunt but they have saved countless young women's lives. The mortality rate for breast cancer has dropped significantly in the last 25 years. It is encouraging but shouldn't be taken as an excuse for apathy.
For more information about breast cancer in women under 40, please visit
www.feelyourboobies.com. This catchy-named foundation started after a healthy 33-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Another great informational W`eb site about breast cancer is the Susan G. Komen: For The cure web site
http://www.komen.org
Youth is not insulation from breast cancer. Your overall health cannot override a dominant genetic predisposition. Additionally, 85%* of women who are diagnosed have no known family history of the disease. The important factor, at any age, is not taking your health for granted.