I remember right after being diagnosed thinking not only, “How could this happen to me?” but also, “Why am I the only one in my family this has happened to?”

For those of you who don’t know, my extended and immediate family has a predominance of females! My mom is one of five girls, I have three girls, I have one sister who has two girls and I also have two sister-in-laws and a mother-in-law. I have eight aunts and nine female cousins and they have had nine daughters between them. The point is the girls have always outnumbered the boys. YES!! Girls Rule! ;)

Besides that, I have way too many dear female friends to even count! And there I was, the ONLY one I knew who had breast cancer! (I found out one of my aunts had it but she was in her 70’s when it occurred, had a lumpectomy and radiation and is doing well).  So besides my aunt and couple others I met afterwards, there I was… alone.

Sadly, just three years after my initial diagnosis, I have helped many women from my community go through their own battle with breast cancer. I’m still the only other one in my family and I would like to keep it that way. In this case, being the only one is perfectly with me! If I can save my daughters, family and friends from going though this I will consider it a true blessing!