At the beginning of December, I returned home from burying my mother. I had a broken heart, and reentering “normal” life seemed difficult. One of Lily’s best friends had a birthday party, and it would be the first time I would be socializing with the parents of her preschool friends after Mom’s death. Lily had missed a week of school, and I had to postpone her birthday party, so they all knew about Mom’s death.

I am not close friends with any of the parents of Lily’s preschool friends, but they showed me such warmth and compassion that they made such a difference in the week of our return.

As I was talking with one of the moms, she shared with me her story. Her grandmother had died from breast cancer, and her mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died soon after. With this history of cancer, this mom’s doctor wanted her to see a genetic counselor. With this history of cancer, this mom is terrified of what the genetic counselor will discover, so she has yet to make the appointment.

As we talked, we discovered that our doctors recommended the same genetic counselor. I keep meaning to make that appointment for myself, and I told her I let her know what the whole process was like.

This whole conversation wasn’t a quiet tete-a-tete over a cup of coffee. We were in the middle of Chuck E. Cheese’s, surrounded by flashing lights, running and squealing kids, and a big, wandering mascot mouse!

There are so many people I know whose lives have been touched somehow by breast cancer, and so I’m bringing the question to you:

How has your life been touched by breast cancer?

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