My mother is a 7 year breast cancer survivor. She was 81 when they detected her cancer. She just celebrated her 88th birthday this year and she is the most amazing person in my life. She has shown us with her own actions, how to go on living no matter what tragedy life handsyou. She has lost two children, one grandson and her husband of 63 years. We lost my 25 year old brother in a car accident about 2 months after we were told my sister has brain cancer and they gave her only six months to live. So, through all this tragedy my mother has been the glue that keeps us all together. She nursed her daugher through chemotherapy and six years and then lost her in 1986; all the while coping with the death of her son. On 4/09/2006 our father passed away. This is just a brief summary of what my mother has endured in her life time. The strength, love & support she has shown thru all of this has helped me deal with my own life challanges. I was diagnosed in November of 2005 with breast cancer. I was a two year survivor when in February 2008 I was told I had uterin cancer & had to have a complete hystorectomy. Then in April of 2008 I was told my breast cancer had come back and I had to have a mastectomy. My mother was so worried about me that all I could say to her to let her know I would be alright was that, "if she could handle all she has in her eighties, I could handle this in my fifties". I am so fortunate to have her as a mother and a friend. Everyone needs a mother like her!

Carol G.
Lakeland, TN