This past weekend I was at my first ever blogging conference in Las Vegas, it was Bloggy Boot Camp. At the conference we got to meet Tina one of 11 breast cancer survivors {9 women and 2 men -yes I said men! it also affects men} teaming up with Ford's Warrior's In Pink {WIP} documentary titled: "Bang the Drum".
She told us a bit of her story, which obviously got me teary eyed. She was diagnosed at the age of 34. Do you know I'm 34 years now? Then she mentioned no one believed her that she felt something different in her chest close to her collarbone, she had 3 different opinions and a mammogram done and everything kept coming up negative!
She fought because she knew deep in her heart that she was not ok, after more procedures were done she was diagnosed and told she would not be seeing her daughter go to Kindergarten. Can you imagine that feeling? Knowing that you will not get to see your children grow? Will not get to see your daughter walking down the aisle? This is when I began to cry.
After aggressive treatment Tina was clear of cancer and she was present on her daughter's first day of kinder watching her walk to the classroom with a big smile and thinking of the blessing she had just witnessed.
I had the opportunity of meeting Tina afterwards and asked her if there was any family history of cancer, her response was shocking! There wasn't. She then told me that 85% of diagnosed patients have no family medical history of cancer. Which means that it could literally happen to anyone and it does. 1 in 12 women will be affected by breast cancer.
Tina mentioned that she never self checked, specially because of her age. She suggested self checking while on your period and I now plan on doing so. Whatever you feel different have it checked, the sooner the better. Why? Because diagnosing it early means it can be prevented from spreading and treated.
Just like Tina there are more stories in this documentary 10 more stories and 2 of them are from men. Which means now both men and women should do self checks.
To watch the video Ford shared with us at Bloggy Boot Camp visit "Bang The Drum" {Living Out Loud in the face of breast cancer}
I love that Ford is helping find a cure for cancer with 100% of the sales from their Warriors In Pink line {which was created 6 years ago}. Since then Ford has dedicated more than $115 million to this fight!
For more information and to find out how you can support Ford visit their Warriors In Pink facebook page, Twitter
