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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As a breast cancer survivor, I could not pass up a chance to share about it before the month ends. On Halloween, I am sharing about one of the scariest possible topics–cancer.

In June of 2011, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, then in November of 2011, I was diagnosed with melanoma. Nothing prepares you to hear the word cancer, does it? Even with the best possible outcome, you don’t hear that part first. That’s not how it works. You hear, “You have cancer.” It’s like that word echos across a thousand mountain tops. Your mind instantly rushes to the worst conclusions. Will I survive? Will I have to have chemo, radiation, surgeries? Will I be able to work? Who will take care of me? The human response is panic. We think the worst before we can hear anything else.

• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 883.
• In 2019, an estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S.
• Breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. began decreasing in the year 2000, after increasing for the previous two decades.
• For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
• Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. In 2019, it’s estimated that about 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancers.
• The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).

Ways to Reduce Your Risk

Limit alcohol. Don’t smoke. Control your weight. Be physically active. Breast feed when you have your babies. Limit dose and duration of hormone therapy. Avoid exposure to radiation and environmental pollution. Do monthly self checks. Have annual mammograms starting at age 45 or 50.

I was blessed, my breast cancer was stage 1 so I didn’t need chemo or radiation. Because of family histories on both sides of my family, I opted for radical bilateral mastectomies with reconstruction. I am glad I did because they found precancerous cells in my other breast too.

I began having intense pain immediately following my first surgery. My body rejected the expanders and then, after the second surgery, my body rejected the silicone implants. I then opted for natural reconstruction. I was left with constant sympathetic nerve pain after my 22 hours of surgeries in 2011. I was told to never have surgery again except to save my life. I was diagnosed with melanoma right in the middle of all the surgeries to make matters worse. I was devastated.

My faith in God has carried me through, one day at a time. If you don’t know Him as your personal Savior, you are missing out on the best hope and help you could ever receive in your trials, and an awesome eternity in Heaven too. I would love to talk with you about coming to know Him. Contact me if you would like to learn more. There is nothing too big for God. Nothing He cannot carry us through, if we will trust Him.

As devastating as cancer can be, there are things it cannot do.

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited…It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace. It cannot destroy confidence. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot shut out memories. It cannot silence courage. It cannot reduce eternal life. It cannot quench the Spirit. Author: Dr. Robert L. Lynn

When bad things happen to us, we can let them make us be bitter, or we can let them make us be better. We can choose to be pitiful, or we can choose to be powerful, but we cannot be both as the same time.

I choose to be powerful. I can only do this with the help of the Lord. I have learned to set aside my pain, and live life to the fullest. I am currently taking a Livestrong class at the YMCA and it has been life changing. I am stronger than I have probably ever been in my life.

Last week I hiked Table Rock Mountain with my son, Bradley. We went 9 miles, 19,000 steps and up to 3,124 feet above sea level and even a bit on the other side. That’s all God! I prayed for supernatural strength, and He gave it to me. I am choosing to live strong for myself and for my family. Thanks for cheering me on, Bradley!

They say no one can understand what you go through until they walk in your shoes, and, my, don’t our shoes get heavy sometimes. Countless people have struggled with cancer. Some have been healed here. Some are still fighting. Some were healed in Heaven, like my mom. No matter the circumstances, if we will trust God, He will help us along our journey one step at a time.

He promises His children in Deuteronomy 33:25, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” In God’s infinite wisdom, mercy and love, He strengthens us through our trials! It is those trials that make us the strongest. He grows us if we’ll let Him. He comforts us so we can comfort others.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Bible says His strength is made perfect in our weakness. As we take one step at a time, even when we don’t feel like we can, we realize and experience that what we cannot do, He can and does do through us! We can do ALL things through Him who strengthens us!

We have just got to remember to take it one step at a time…

Habakkuk 3:19—The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

He is the reason I could hike Table Rock Mountain, and He is the reason I was led to this class at the Y. He is the reason I live and breathe, and I am now 8 years cancer free. That’s all my Big, Big God!

To those dealing with cancer now. I leave you with one thing.

Never forget: cancer starts with little c and Christ starts with Big C.