Cancer Survivors Network

This is my Mom and I in 1999. We were both fighting breast cancer at the same time and we both were just getting our hair back. I and she had both gained a lot of weight due to the steroids from chemo. She was a great lady, full of laughter and yet tough as nails. She passed on 8-18-2000. I will love her forever!

Yippee I have enough hair to cut! This was so much fun, my hair dresser has been cutting my hair since she was 16 and she was just waiting to hear from me.

This is a photo of my sister Susan and I in May 2007 (I am in wig). She was ill but did not yet know. She had battled breast cancer twice and was doing well, sadly she had had stomach probs and just thought it was indigestion. She was diagnoised with pancreatic cancer and passed on Dec. 15 2007. Her daughter, my dad, my lil sis and I cared for her in her last week. She was quite a gal who had many many friends. I miss my big sis dearly!

Here I am with my grandson after my first chemo in ten years, April 2007. I was not feeling ill so he decided I needed band aids (stickers) on my face to make me feel better. He even put his Mister Potato Head glasses on. Well let me tell you by the time he was done I felt a lot better, he truly cheered me up!

Here I am feeding a donkey while on vacation in 1998. My hair was just starting to come back and I had decided to wear a ball cap. We were there to see Mount Rushmore and just get away from all the medical stuff. It was a wonderful vacation we had such a good time.

This is me just plain being silly in 1998 while in am still being treated for breast cancer.

I'm a 36yr old single mother that was diagnosed in April with breast cancer, and had my surgery on the 11th of June. My options were either the partial mastectomy or full mastectomy i choose the full with the tram flap reconstruction which was done the same day, surgery lasted 10hrs. However, before my surgery i consulted with the plastic surgeon that did the reconstruction, and was told my recovery time is 4-6wks, by which time i should be able to stand up straight. Well it's more than 2months and i can't stand straight, i had another surgery on the 18th of this month (August), because i develop an infection in my reconstructed breast 3wks after my surgery,the breast was so swollen it just burst and start flowing, and four days later another hole burst, he told me to pack both, it's been draining ever since then, i've been on five different antibiotics, but nothing seem to be working, now i have nurses coming out everyday to pack the wound in my breast.