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This year I am attending numerous Komen races and walks around the country, and I find no matter where they are located, the bond of the Breast Cancer Sisterhood is so palpable you can almost touch it. The same touch that started with our discovery of a lump in our breasts. The lump that changed our lives, and the lives of our families, forever.
At a Komen event you can see the unspoken bond of shared experience in their faces; women coming together, rejoicing in a united spirit of strength and survivorship. It is a sea of pink shirts and hats and a sprinkling of closely cropped hair; the club you feared joining; the sisters you never wanted. It is a club that does not discriminate against age, race or gender. Yes, men get breast cancer, too, but for the most part, breast cancer is a sisterhood. <PREVIEWEND>
Over the weekend I did a television interview for KTVT CBS 11 in Dallas, and their sister station, KTXA 21 in Fort Worth. The interview was going well until the reporter asked “Why did you start the BreastCancerSisterhood.com?” It is a logical question and one I’ve answered before, only this time when I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out. Instead I became overwhelmed with emotion. I began to cry. As I looked into the camera, I knew the answer to the question because the “why” has become the major focus of my life.
As the camera kept rolling, no one said a word, including me. I wanted to shout, “Just the thought of all those other women hearing the words, ‘You’ve got breast cancer,’ and living through the same fears and experiences I’ve lived through is heartbreaking. I want to give them the answers to questions they don’t even know to ask.” As I sat there, I tried hard to compose myself, but the words stuck in the hollow of my throat. I was overcome with love and empathy for each and every woman, and their families, for whom the Race for the Cure is not just a date on the calendar but a lifeline: the hope and promise of a cure.
Komen is more than a Race for the Cure. It is a celebration of life; a time the Breast Cancer Sisterhood unites and rejoices in the fact we are still here; that we have survived and endured this profound and sometimes, unbearable experience. While we will always be members of the Breast Cancer Sisterhood, our thoughts will shift from the constant fear and worry about when, and if, our breast cancer returns, to gradually letting the comforts of normal life become our driving force. While the “what ifs” may never leave us, our lives are in the here and now, and we are a composite of our life experiences.
Oprah Winfrey said, “I am where I am because of the bridges I have crossed.” Perhaps that should have been my answer to the television reporter. I have crossed a bridge I never wanted to cross. I have done the thing I feared most, and hopefully, this experience, along with God’s grace, is making me a more compassionate person with something to give her sisters: the gift of Survivorship. That is why I started the BreastCancerSisterhood.com. To give them the gift of Survivorship.
As breast cancer survivors, we are changing the world. We are finding ways to help our sisters, and in the process, making their bridge an easier one to cross. More importantly, we are raising the money to find a cure so our sisters and their daughters, and the sisters we will never know, may be spared the journey of crossing this bridge. I pray for the day when I will not cry for women I’ve never met.
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Previous Comments
Lisa commented on 26-Apr-2010 04:39 PM Feel like I was there -- the inspiring words & the great photo. Will share this w/all my friends who participate in this nationwide.
Teri commented on 28-Apr-2010 05:06 PM I agree a Komen race is more than the race. You see yourself at different stages in the women around you and get support you won't find anyplace else.
Diana commented on 30-Apr-2010 01:36 AM I want to sob with you... I wish my mom had lived a decade or two longer so she could possibly have been able to join in on this kind of thing. I would have beenn right there with her. And all the other women. THANK YOU, Brenda, for starting BreastCancerSisterhood.com for the women are are living NOW. {hugz}
Anonymous commented on 02-May-2010 06:51 PM Through your life experience you have changed as a person, in a positive way. You have found inner courage, empathy and willing to share with others.
Kayren Babcock commented on 12-Jun-2010 10:50 AM I love that you have that sisterhood to bond with, keep you strong, keep you mindful, and keep you hoping for the future. I walk with a team in the Susan G Komen 3 Day- (by the way we go to church together... we must meet up sometime) I stand in the sea of pink shirts and marvel at the courage and strength. I walk those 60 miles to honor them and pray as I walk for the future (for my daughter Zoe who is 2) that she might never hear or at least fear the words "you have breast cancer" - Thank you for your blog and your raw honesty!
Brenda Coffee commented on 13-Jun-2010 05:17 PM Kayren,
I left you a message on Team Tiara. You are bonded to the breast cancer sisterhood as well: through your mother, your girlfriends and your compassion. Your blog and your loving spirit made my day. Thank you.
XOXOXOXO,
Brenda
I left you a message on Team Tiara. You are bonded to the breast cancer sisterhood as well: through your mother, your girlfriends and your compassion. Your blog and your loving spirit made my day. Thank you.
XOXOXOXO,
Brenda
Mike Hartsell commented on 18-Sep-2010 08:42 PM Brenda,
You are doing a great work and we are proud that God leads you in a direction of service to Him and others. I pray for the continued growth of this outreach work and that even more lives will be saved, renewed, or reinvigorated.
God bless,
mike
You are doing a great work and we are proud that God leads you in a direction of service to Him and others. I pray for the continued growth of this outreach work and that even more lives will be saved, renewed, or reinvigorated.
God bless,
mike
Lee C commented on 18-Sep-2010 08:43 PM A lovely blog. How are you? Is there more reconstruction ahead?
XOXOXO
LLP
XOXOXO
LLP
Philippa Kibugu-Decuir commented on 18-Sep-2010 08:46 PM Dear Brenda!
I am a survivor too! 16years!!!
This piece has prompted me to send you my Mother's Day Message about the women on the other side of the world.
Blessings for all you do.
Philippa Kibugu-Decuir
Founder Breast Cancer Initiative East Africa Inc.
www.breastcancerafrica.org
I am a survivor too! 16years!!!
This piece has prompted me to send you my Mother's Day Message about the women on the other side of the world.
Blessings for all you do.
Philippa Kibugu-Decuir
Founder Breast Cancer Initiative East Africa Inc.
www.breastcancerafrica.org
Online Trading commented on 11-Oct-2010 07:15 AM Good post man, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using.
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