my neighbor and friend

I personally have not had breast cancer or anything close to it. I do know of some people who have, though. Quite a few actually. Several are survivor's, one was not.

Several years ago my friend and neighbor Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time she was in her mid-twenties, a singe-mom with two young kids Noah and Aubrey both under the age of 8. She found the lump herself and when she addressed it with her doctor's they actually told her it probably was a swollen gland go home and watch it. This may have been due to her age since it is quite rare to get breast cancer in your twenties, although it does happen. It took persistence on her part and several months later tests confirmed she had cancer. Long story short she had a double-mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy. Her cancer went into remission. She was able to go back to work only part-time since he had many doctor appointments.

Time passed. One day our kids were playing outside and she was telling me how her back kept hurting. She thought it was her chair at work. The next day again her back was not better. Finally, she went into the doctor to have it checked out. Shock. She had a tumor in her spine and cancer had mastetized to other parts of her body. Her doctors at Kaiser said there was nothing else they could do for her. I remember for a week straight her mom was fighting to try and get her into City of Hope. No luck. She went into the hospital shortly after. I was able to speak to her by phone when she came out of ICU. She said to me, "I am going to die." I told her she was not going to and told her she would be fine. I would see her soon.

She died the next day. This was 3 years ago. She was 29.