On October 9, 2020, I had a mastectomy. That was 26 years after having a lumpectomy in 1994 for breast cancer treatment. The disease claimed the lives of my sisters Marie and Diane. Another sister is still fighting. Ovarian cancer claimed the lives of my sisters Melba and Elizabeth. I lost my sister Carrie to cevical cancer and my brother James to colon cancer.

As a survivor, for many years I helped raise money for research by participating in the annual emotional Revlon Runwalk. Yet, I see no advances in treatment options or a reduction in the number of cases. Surgery (cut), radiation (burn) and chemotherapy (poison) are still the popular treatments. Oh, then there’s the “We’ll just watch it” my niece Sharon was told. They watched it for months without treatment until she died of breast cancer in 2017.

If researchers can successfully send man to the moon and back, disclose the inside of a house simply by Googling the address, perform transgender surgery, show you the gender of your unborn baby, and perform robotic surgery to remove a woman’s womb, then surely there must be a better treatment option than amputating breasts. Perhaps soon, the search for that yet-to-be-discovered treatment option for breast cancer will become a priority.

So, in this breast cancer awareness month, I urge you to join me in praying for the discovery of the cause and the cure for breast cancer.

Thank you for your prayers. May God bless the rest of my family and yours to remain free from cancer.