It started with a haircut ...

... well, sort of. Breast Cancer has always been a thought in my mind. My dad's sister Phyllis died from Breast Cancer when she was 30, leaving behind three young children. Granted, that was a long time ago and I had never met her since my dad was only about 10 when she passed but I still remember thinking while growing up "gee that was awfully young". Even though she is a relative on the paternal side of the family, you still can't help but wonder about the hereditary aspects of the disease.
Besides my aunt, it seems as though I have always known of someone that had the disease or knew someone that knew someone that had it.
Jump to current day. Last fall I found out that one of my very close customer's had found a lump and would be getting a biopsy. Prayers flowed but the results came back and it was malignant. Test after test was done and the doctors felt confident that they had caught the cancer early. There was no need to do a mastectomy but the cells did spread into the lymph nodes of her left breast. Surgery was scheduled and the lump as well as the affected lymph nodes were removed.
Early this year she began chemotherapy. Prior to starting she was telling me about it and how she would be taking a newer type of chemo that only had a 40% chance of her losing her hair. At the time, my own hair was about down to my shoulders. I told her that if she lost her hair from the chemo then I would cut mine off as well ...
Round 1 of chemo was given the beginning of February and things were looking good ... no hair loss yet. Then we talked again .. the hair was coming out in handfuls so she planned to have her niece shave her head that weekend. I immediately called my hairdresser and set up an appointment for later that week.
It is now the beginning of June and my hair is still short. She has just finished her chemo and her's is starting to grow back like the soft down of a new chick! I've decided to keep mine short. I'm sure that i'll enjoy that a lot more when I'm walking in the Phoenix heat!
~Chanin