I began my battle on June 15, 2000 at the age of 27 when my oldest son was in kindergarten. I also had a 4 year old daughter and an almost 2 year old son. I had no family history and no typical signs of breast cancer. My family Dr said I was fine and for 6 months he just kept passing off my pain as something from nursing my youngest. I kept going to the Dr every week until I got to be a bother to him and he sent me for an ultrasound. That is the day I will never forget, I was diagnosed with stage 2 Infiltrating (invasive) lobular carcinoma or ILC. After 4 lumpectomies, chemo and radiation, I was cancer free, or so I thought. Then routine blood work showed my bone marrow count was dangerously low and since I have a rare blood type, the Dr had a brilliant idea, get pregnant, have a baby and use the umbilical cord blood to have a transfusion, so after a lot of prayers, crying and arguing, on May 4, 2004, I had my 4th child Faith Diane. My bone marrow count is still good, but my journey through cancer has not yet finished. In 2006 the breast cancer had metastasized into an astrocytoma of the brain. This type of cancer is inoperable, but I'm still here, so for that, I am grateful. Unfortunately, the Dr's just found a spot in my stomach which I will have to battle again, but I have Faith and hope. I have been through years of chemotherapy and radiation, and I probably take 15 pills a day. But to my family and I every day, is special. I just hope someone reads my story and gets checked out. Better safe than sorry!

Chanda
Santa Paula, CA