TAMPA, FL -- Mom always knew it was a possibility. Cancer ran in her family. But when my dad found the first lump, I think they both went into denial.
I was away at college when she had a mastectomy and chemotherapy. She didn't even tell me until the worst of it was done.
Then, like a bad secret, she packed up the talk about cancer and put it away.
Little things had changed, though. One summer, she asked me to take a trip with her. So, in 1993, we spent a week cruising around the Caribbean, because you never know what might happen.
I thank God for that trip.
The proper medical treatment bought my mother time, but in 1995, just 2 years after that cruise, the cancer came back. This time, the cancer was no secret.
My mom thought that being a woman with breast cancer was nothing to be ashamed of. Mom proudly modeled turbans and accents for a company that made clothing for women with cancer.
She also did her homework. She and her doctor decided a stem cell bone marrow transplant was the best way to prolong her life.
Shortly after the transplant, my mother and father came to visit me in Florida. They wanted to tell me in person that the stem cell transplant had failed. The cancer was back, and it wasn't going away.
While here, my father captured an image of my mother on the beach. The picture is one of my favorites of my mother. To me, the picture is symbolic. My mom, standing on the beach watching the sun set on her life, peacefully thinking.
Sometimes I wonder if the cancer had always been there somewhere inside her, just hidden.
There when she was a cheerleader in high school.
There the day she got engaged.
There the day she brought me home from the hospital.
A genetic time bomb ticking away that nobody can hear.
Now I wonder if it's something that I carry in me...
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and ABC Action News is taking action to help you get informed. Get all the facts you need to know to catch breast cancer early and make sure to pick up a free breast cancer shower card at any participating Publix pharmacy location.
Tonight at 5 p.m. we'll show you the most common risk facors beyond family history.
