In July of 2007, my rodeo announcer husband announced his first ever Tough Enough To Wear Pink night. He spent hours researching breast cancer so he could be well informed, rather than just regurgitate the information he would receive the night of the rodeo. Since cancer didn't exist in either of our families, he just wanted to bring our awareness in the crowd.
On October 25, 2007 I had a lump removed from my left breast, fully expecting the pathology to come back as a cyst. It was early stage, triple negative breast cancer. Fortunately, it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes so I had four months of chemo followed by 33 days of radiation. I thank God that Michael had the information he had found during the summer since it really helped us both with my diagnosis.
During the last year and a half, my husband and I have found out what is really important in life. The petty day to day irritations just aren't important any more. Michael is more determined than ever to spread the word about the cancer epidemic. We were the poster family for the breast cancer group he works with each summer for the TETWP nights, and he's not afraid to go in front of cameras and microphones to encourage both women and men to go see a doctor, get checked early and often to make sure to catch any chance of cancer early.
Michael is my hero. I'm so blessed to have him with me, and couldn't have made it through without him in my life. I didn't just go through cancer, we all did. Our son, Jared was young enough that hopefully he won't remember when mommy was sick.
Each day is a gift and we rejoice in as a family.
Burns, WY