Thursday
The Rack Pack
My husband caught me touching myself in the shower this morning.
“Um, what are you doing?” he asked with an uncomfortable smile.
“I’m giving myself a breast examine,” I responded, as if he should've known.
“Oh, come on,” he grumbled. “You’re too young to worry about things like that.”
Hearing the word young after two children and a responsible mortgage made me feel good, and I couldn’t help wonder if he was right? That was until I spoke with Allison, who at 26, found a lump in her breast.
“This wasn’t the first time I found a lump, so I wasn’t scared at all.”
Allison went in for what she thought would be another simple biopsy proving she had fibroadenoma, common among young women, but on November 30, 2005, Allison was diagnosed with infiltrating ductal carcinoma—stage 2 breast cancer.
Allison was young, in perfect health, had no family history of breast cancer, and knew little about it before her diagnosis.
“I knew it affected a lot of women, but I was certain it would never affect me—why would it?”
Because the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes Allison began an aggressive form of treatment immediately.
“I remember the feeling just hit me late at night. I thought, ‘what if the cancer is all over my body? Am I going to die?’”
Everything stopped for Allison at that moment, and she started taking pictures of her journey.
“The pictures are my diary,” Allison explained. “Words can't really describe the feelings and emotions I had through all this—my pictures speak those feelings.”
Despite it being a hard and scary experience, Allison says she doesn’t want to forget a single moment of it.
“I look back on my life before breast cancer and it’s as though I am remembering someone else's life. The diagnosis slowed me down. I can truly say that I stopped caring about the little stuff; my focus now is simply my loved ones and my health.”
Allison is now 27 and works in real estate in La Jolla, CA. She is cancer free and doing well, having just completed reconstructive surgery. She says she will never play the ‘why me’ card.
“I never want to view this diagnosis as a burden; instead I look at my experience in a positive light because from it I have gained so much strength, insight, and courage.”
I asked Allison what she would say to women who think this is something that will never happen to them, or that they’re too young to worry about it, her response—
“Look at me—that’s what I thought!”
Allison’s experience inspired her to form a group known as, The Rack Pack.
“It was formed as a way for all of my friends to come together and make a difference in the fight against breast cancer.”
This year the group of 13 women will be participating in the San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
“We’re raising tens of thousands of dollars to fight this disease. Current statistics say that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer—that’s a scary fact. Our team plans to do something to change that—none of us ever want to go through this again.”
Read More about Alli’s story fight about breast cancer and see pictures from her breast cancer diary.
Labels: The Rack Pack
