Breast Cancer Awareness Month

About 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime, and October is an entire month dedicated to raising awareness for women with breast cancer and those who have survived it. Breast cancer has the second highest death rate of all cancers, but luckily most women can survive it if it is found and treated early.

Many students here at CHASE are affected by cancer every year, and one of these students has agreed to share their story.

In early June, 2019, my mother got diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. I spent most of my summer in and out of doctors offices and hospitals, accompanying her into exam rooms and explaining her test results back to her when she didn’t understand the doctor. They made multiple treatment plans before finally settling on one, continually postponing a surgery to remove her tumor, and instead deciding to place her on chemo treatments. She went to have a port placed in her chest to make the treatments easier, but during the surgery her lung collapsed and they had to do an emergency procedure to insert a chest tube. I went with her to get her chemo treatments, sitting there for six hours at a time just to keep her company. She and I have attended cancer support group meetings, and plan on attending more events and such. It’s changed my life a lot. It’s forced me into maturity and responsibility, taken away from my social life but added to my exhaustion and depression. I spend a lot of time helping her around the house and cant make very many plans because she’s too sick to drive. These things don’t make me mad, and I’m not trying to be selfish, but sometimes it does feel like it’s taken over my life as well as hers. I haven’t really told anybody about it, because it’s not something I particularly like talking about, but I suppose it’s okay if it contributes to the discussion. -anonymous student

We thank this anonymous student for their contribution. If you or a loved one is suffering from breast cancer, we wish you the best of health and luck in the future.