Daily Archives: July 28, 2009

December of 2005 began as one of the best months of my life: I had a girlfriend that I really cared for and thought we had a future together (we didn’t); I had just re-certified my Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist designation and had just qualified as an Officer of the Deck onboard the ship I’d been on for a year; I had just made Petty Officer First Class in the Navy; and, the night before that, I had finally received my Bachelor’s Degree after 11 years in college (off-and-on). To top it off, I was excited about turning 30 in a few weeks.

Life was good….

That was, until the following week when my mom told me that they thought that Shayna had Breast Cancer (Shayna was my 27yo sister). I didn’t know what to make of it at first, we’d had zero Cancer in the family (we did, however, have a history of Huntington’s Disease, which I thought was behind us since mom was past the age to start to show symptoms and had yet to exhibit any.

I think I was let in a bit late in the game, because it was about the next week when I got the news that Shayna, did, indeed have Breast Cancer. She did all the treatment (mastectomy, chemo, radiation, etc.) and had a positive outlook. I figured if she’s got a positive outlook, I should as well, right? It seemed logical to me. I did not know what everything meant at the time, I really didn’t. They had someone from one of the Breast Cancer organizations in San Diego at the Navy Exchange one time, and I stopped by to grab some info, and the woman behind the table asked me if I knew any “Survivors” and I said “not yet, my sister is still battling it” and then felt like an idiot because the lady told me “anyone with a diagnosis who is still alive is a Survivor”. For those who know me, I don’t like feeling like an idiot.

Around the time our father died the following September, she was declared Cancer-free (at least that’s when I was told about it, again, being so far away, I don’t always get news right away). I really, honestly thought that was the end of it. I went about my life as normal, not really having given another thought to Breast Cancer. I thought it was all in the past. (Note: Also in this time, one of my cousins was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, about 2 months after Shayna’s diagnosis, so it was starting to become more prevalent in my family.)

Fast-forward almost a year, I’d returned from an almost 7-month deployment on the USS Preble and started a job on shore duty. One day I get a call from mom, and she told me that Shayna had seizures the night before. I am not sure of the timeframe, but it ended up that the Cancer had metastasized and spread to her brain. I honestly did not know it could do that. Even after almost 2 years, I was still incredibly uninformed about Breast Cancer, hell, even just Cancer in general.

Why was that the case? Well, a huge part of it is definitely the disconnect I have living so far away from my family, there’s no denying that. If I’d been home and witnessed everything first-hand, I’m sure I’d have been prompted to learn a great deal more about it. Part of it was the fact that Shayna is a fighter and never really let it get her down, never was deflated about it (at least not to me), while mom was of course worried, but she’s mom-that’s her job. I just figured if she can have such a positive outlook on it, then I shouldn’t worry about it.

Regardless, I started to learn a great deal more (although, I’ll admit, I’m still not an expert regarding Breast Cancer-however, I would consider myself a functional idiot about it now) and wanted to help. If I was in Michigan still, I’m not sure if I would have ever got involved in the Breast Cancer 3-Days, because I would have been able to help my sister in closer and more personal ways. Instead, I’m 2200 miles away-I felt the need to get involved on a National level. I couldn’t do it in 2007 (by that time I had about 2 months to fundraise the minimum amount-$2200), but I decided that I would do it in 2008.

After doing it last year, I couldn’t imagine not doing it again this year (and next year…and the next year…)! When I began the walk, I was doing it for my sister. However, before the end of the 3 Days, I realized I was doing it for every woman there, every Survivor, every woman who lost the battle, my daughters, my mom, my step-mom, my female friends…and my sister. No matter what happens to my sister, I’m going to keep trying to do these walks, for as long as I can (I know people who walked last year and aren’t repeating this year, if you had strong enough convictions to do it once, shouldn’t you keep doing it?)…I’m going to attempt to do a different one each year until I have done them all-that’s why this year I decided to walk the Arizona Walk (it’s the closest and most convenient, despite the fact that it’s the weekend right before the San Diego walk).