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Newsletters>
Newsletter #1
March 26, 2007
Dear Friends and Supporters of www.facingforwardllc.com ,
I want to thank you all again for all your letters of
support, encouragement, and for your interest in the
direction I am taking with "Facing Forward" (and the recent
newspaper article) and appreciating the unique nature of
its concept. There was much that couldn't be covered in
the article that Jerry wrote though he certainly gave me
quite enough space to share as much as possible. I love
hearing from in particular those of you who wrote and
called who said "Your story sounds like mine!". Not
because I want anyone to have to fight this battle of
course, but because there is so much more than just
awareness that needs to be shared, and many of us have
experienced what appears to the world to be a "unique"
situation only for us to find that there are many YOUNG
women, women of DIFFERENT LIFESTYLES, and women with
METASTASIS (or mets as those of us who grow tired of saying
it call it.) I had wanted to wait until my website was
much more full of information, and until the EBay links and
MySpace links were in place. Of course beyond that there
is the shooting of the DVD itself that has been challenging
and the development of makeup and skincare products which
also take time and a lot of Internet research. Its a far
reaching project, and while initially we are still aiming
for October for an official launch, it could be quite some
time before the full concept is completed (if ever!!)
There is so much that can be done with this and there are
so many of you with wonderful ideas and offers of
assistance that I myself am wondering how it will actually
appear once it is launched. I would be remiss to not open
my mind to newer ways to do things and I want to link to as
large a community as possible, of course without losing
touch of our real goal, and that is to help reach
survivors.
The advent of Elizabeth Edwards announcement has propelled
me to go ahead and put the web address out there, along
with this email because the timeliness and the circumstance
surrounding her recurrence is so textbook in the way that
it is unique to our approach. There are resources out
there that tout awareness and we certainly want that. But
there is much to be aware of and one of those concepts is
the concept of metastasis, what it means, and how it
changes the perception of our lives and the way we approach
the illness. People don't often think of cancer as a
chronic illness like diabetes or sickle cell, but once the
illness spreads to another organ in the body, the disease
has metastasized and is now considered incurable. That
word incurable is so initially frightening. I remember
when I found out just how serious my circumstances were.
In the dark at 3am...they jumped out at me. The odds that
stared me in the face...a 20% chance of surviving 5 years?
What did this mean? Yet the doctors felt they could treat
my recurrence fairly easily and I was being given great
odds in the offices of the oncologists. The truth is there
just aren't enough studies and information over time to
understand approaching cancer as a chronic illness.
Because of new treatments and approaches, sometimes the
disease can be managed for many, many years. A full
lifetime, if proper care is taken and of course the right
amount of prayers and luck (depending on your beliefs) are
involved. Here I am staring at my potential 5th
recurrence. (The lung spot has cleared for the most part,
but now a spot on the back needs to be investigated, the
only symptom now is pain, so it isn't urgent yet.) I say
this because I want people to see a woman LIVING with
cancer, not dying from it, or simply surviving it. Mrs.
Edwards is such a perfect example of this and her approach
is so wonderfully optimistic, refreshing and empowering.
Incurable doesn't mean deadly. Not always. We have to
acknowledge the seriousness of what we are fighting. So it
helps to know that cancer will always be a part of my/our
lives in some way. But it doesn't have to overwhelm it. I
read about a woman a couple of years ago who had fought
Breast Cancer 30+ times. Now that's power.
A few other facts you have probably heard mentioned now,
but are not always as commonly known. Breast Cancer that
has spread to the bone or liver is still BREAST CANCER.
Cancer is defined by the type of cell involved not the
location. Breast Cancer likes the bones, liver, lungs and
brain. (I have had it more times in my bone than anywhere
else-my breast has not been affected since the initial
diagnosis 6 years ago.) Once it has spread it is
classified as incurable. It will most likely recur, and
though you cannot predict such timing, it seems to do so
within a 5 year period. Survivors work hard to get as many
years between occurrences as possible. Additionally,
though not always the case, the disease tends to be more
aggressive in younger women. I know more women in my own
age range that have passed than those in older age
brackets. If you are young and you have fought the
disease...don't live in fear...but live in diligence. The
tests we have are not as effective, the only indicator I
had was pain. Severe pain in my sternum, and quick growth.
So you must rely on your own knowledge of your body. And
push for tests. PET scans in particular. Tumor/Blood
markers were completely ineffective in most of my
diagnoses. X-rays were not helpful. Pain which led to a
CT scan was my savior. Consider how you look at pain. It
saved my life. It can be your friend and it can be managed
too. (All this said remember your doctor will probably not
be as diligent as you are and may not be thrilled with your
approach-ITS YOUR BODY, don't be paranoid, just be alert.)
I will leave you all with all this to digest. I know it is
lengthy, but it is the first official newsletter email and
we needed to cover some ground. I have a small amount of
my initial "mini book" "Don't Let the Cat Get Your
Wig"...which have not been at Amazon for some time due to
shipping issues, I will order more soon. But I will let
these go first come first serve at $10 for coverage of
start up costs here. Which are what they are! We are
considering doing a fundraising event sometime soon check
the "Save Our Boobies"/"Boobies Rock" page for details as
they become available. Who knows, could become an annual
event. And goodness knows the diva hasn't been singing
enough lately!!!
Much love to you all, take good care and thank you for
taking time to read so much information. I promise more
pictures, movies, art and fun for the future. Til then,
wishing you good health, and do sign the guestbook if you
will and let us know you are here. (And what you NEED and
WANT to see!)
Lauren Brower
Facing Forward LLC
www.facingforwardllc.com
all emails blindcopied for privacy
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