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It is very important that all women over 40 get a mammogram.  Why?  You could have breast Cancer, and not even know it. In the mid 90's, I felt a lump in my breast, so I asked the nurse for a mammogram.  Strangely, she asked me "how old was I ?"  These days it doesn't matter how old you are, cause even people in there 20's are getting it.  But, anyhow, the mammogram showed a mass.  In 1996, I had a breast biopsy, which showed positive cancer.  I wish they had the needle biopsies back then, to eliminate so many operations,  because the biopsy was just the beginning of a long and annoying journey.  I wouldn't wish that on anybody.  Here's my story.

Since then, I did my own research.  I realize that the very stressful life I had when I was in my 20's didn't help me to be healthy later on in life.  Cancer is not a mysterious disease that suddenly attacks you.  Constant exposure to chemicals, bad water, pestecides and other toxins lead to free radicals and too many cancer cells.  A bad diet of refined and processed food weakens the immune system.  This is also too much stress on the body.  But, some people inherit Breast Cancer from their relatives. 

So, back to my breast cancer treatment that I had in 1996.  I had chemotherapy, and many other test done to make sure it didn't spread anywhere else.  In the middle of my treatment in Feb. 1997, my father died because he was diabetic, which ran in his family.  His mother, brother, and two sisters had too.  His two sisters are still living.  A month before he died, he thought he had prostate cancer.  His doctor put him in the hospital for some test, and they did some experimenting on him.  One day we were talking and laughing, and the next day he was in ICU.  Nobody really know what they did to him.  A few days later he died.   All this made me feel traumatized.  After the funeral, the nurse told that I needed a lumpectomy.  Then, I needed another round of chemotherapy and radiation.  My body felt drained, but I regained my strength back in 1998.  I started eating right and excercising regularly.  After I felt normal again, I also went back to work at the IRS.

Everything was going so well until 2005, when the ultra sound showed a mass again.  This time, I had a needle biopsy, which wasn't so bad.  In 2006, I had a right breast mastectomy.  I wish I had just had the mastectiomy in 1996, instead of all those operations and to get it over with, already.  So, I had chemo all over again, but no radiation. But, chemo can make your bones fragil; and makes some people very tired.  Plus, I had arthritis.  That's the side effects.  I stayed home for a long time, just resting and taking care of myself.  Then, July 2007, I went back to work.  I'm not working at the moment though, because I stayed home and wrote a book called "Adversities of Life" by Velma Jackson, which is on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.  Believe me, I am so health conscious now, and I do excercise.  Living a good healthy life is very important.   I just thank God that I am here to tell this story and am able to see my grandchildren grow up.

Story by V. Jackson

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMXgGPKCF-4