A Little Bump is All It Takes
Life can hit you with something sudden when you least expect it. One day you can be happy and life seems perfect, then you are told something and you start to wonder how can you come back from that. You ask yourself the question everyone asks themselves, “Why me?”. I interviewed a dear friend close to me who is still going through the very process of breast cancer.
I interrogated my best friend’s mother, Charlene Gonzales who in the beginning of the year was hit with shocking news. A small but noticeable bump on her breast was all it took to catch her attention and get tested by a doctor. The results, were breast cancer. The doctors were amazed she felt such a tiny bump that she was able to catch it very early.
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It was the hardest time Mrs. Gonzales ever had to go through. Thankfully she had her loving family, husband and dear friends who accompanied her through her journey and gave her the support she needed. She confessed she went through depression and suicidal thoughts, as she progressed through her treatment. I asked her what got her back to fighting she stated, “I couldn’t bear to feel so much pain everyday as I woke up in agony and my body quivered in pain, but the sight of watching my family fight so hard to keep me going made me feel worse as I only thought of ending my life, they’re the reason I am here today, my family saved me from the darkest part of my mind” (Gonzales).
Mrs. Gonzales was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. In Derkaoui’s report on breast cancer she stated, “TNBCs are characterized by lack of expression of hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2” (Derkaoui et al. 1). Mrs.
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The most blessed and admired words a person could hear, “I beat cancer’s butt.” Interviewing a cancer survivor is the most heart wrenching moment to listen to, but also the most amazing story to hear. To hear that someone was diagnosed with cancer but they fought back and are healthy once more. I asked Mrs. Gonzales how she felt knowing she beat cancer her response was heartwarming, “I felt like a huge weight was off my chest, like God gave me back the faith I had lost, I was the happiest knowing I was blessed with more time with my children and grandchildren, like I can take on anything life throws at me” (Gonzales). For a woman to go through such pain and overcome it all shows the strength she
Although illness narratives are not novel or new, their prevalence in modern popular literature could be attributed to how these stories can be relatable, empowering, and thought-provoking. Susan Grubar is the writer for the blog “Living with Cancer”, in The New York Times, that communicates her experience with ovarian cancer (2012). In our LIBS 7001 class, Shirley Chuck, Navdeep Dha, Brynn Tomie, and I (2016) discussed various narrative elements of her more recent blog post, “Living with Cancer: A Farewell to Legs” (2016). Although the elements of narration and description (Gracias, 2016) were easily identified by all group members, the most interesting topics revolved around symbolism as well as the overall impression or mood of the post.
So, regardless of how her husband viewed her illness, she knew she had to look beyond her husband’s constraints and continue looking toward her goal of healing. She continues to seek self-worth. Desperately, she seeks answers. “The force of character is cumulative.”
...hole life, and because of this connection, her perception of cancer changed, “It was at this moment that I realized the deceit I had been living under. Children growing up in the American Southwest drinking contaminated breasts of their mothers, my mother-members, years later, of the Clan of One-Breasted Women” (283).
All people handle their own tragedies differently and need a different level of support while experiencing their difficulties. While some are able to persevere and accomplish amazing feats of recovery after their struggles, some people are not so lucky and choose to suffer.
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
Before I go on to celebrate my mother and what she stood for I must share with you the reality of what life was like for my mother and the family since she was first diagnosed with cancer in October. Of course, nobody suffered more than my mother, but Dad you’re definitely second. We all shared my mother’s pain. It was like we were all on trial.
Over the past decade breast cancer has become one of the most predominant diseases in the United States. Breast cancer starts out as a malignant tumor in the tissues of the breast which is formed from the uncontrolled growth of abnormal breast cells. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, but it can also appear in men. (Stephan, 2010)
Throughout my years of high school, I have battled a chronic knee injury which was devastating for me. I have had surgery not once, not twice, but three times in efforts to correct the problem I was having. Throughout these past few years I often found myself asking, “Why me?” or “Why did this have to happen to me?”. Overtime, I started to ask myself a better question which was, “Why not me?”. I feel everything happens for a reason and I was dealt this difficult obstacle because God knew I could handle it. This injury has made me mentally tougher than I could have ever imagined. Along with my mental toughness, I have had to face some tough decisions at a
About 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, more than any other type of cancer (www.breastcancer.org, 2015). Many people lack the knowledge of how breast cancer is developed. Some people think they will not get cancer because they do not smoke cigarettes, but this is not the only cause of cancer developing in the breast. Anyone can get cancer. Everyone is potentially at risk for developing some form of Cancer (American Cancer Society, 2015).
On April 22, 2008, Anita passed after sustaining injuries she received from a domestic violence altercation. Despite the many trials in her life, she led a happy life and could always find humor in any situation. Always willing to lend a helping hand, one might consider her a natural caregiver. Happy, comedic, and a bit eccentric are words used to describe Anita. Her family would never could have imagined she would meet her tragic demise at such a young age. Oblivious to the abuse in their short and tumultuous relationship, no one was aware of her situation. She sustained injuries from a blunt force trauma during a domestic dispute with her boyfriend. Suffering from a horrific headache after the assault, her mother took her to the local hospital. The family received the disturbing call that would change the entire family dynamic. Anita was hospitalized due to injuries sustained from her boyfriend. She had reported the assault to the hospital employees, and then slipped into a coma (Desert Dispatch). Flown to a better equipped facility, neurological surgeons performed surgery in an attempt to salvage her life. The members of her family arrived at the facility not knowing what to expect. Life support machines breathing life into her, the family was distraught. The neurologist asked her sister’s to meet with him in the conference room. They knew what he would say, and devastation overtook them. Declining brain activity from one day to the next, the doctor stated that if she survived, she would awake into a vegetative state and require institutionalization. Anita’s family made a unanimous decision and did not want her to live without any quality of life. Immediately, family and friends showed up later and with heartach...
“Just take my hand, together we can do it, I’m gonna love you through it.” (I’m Gonna Love You Through It- Martina McBride). Breast cancer is an awful disease that will change your life in a single moment. ”Everything in my life was turned upside-down. I really had a wonderful life; A husband, three children. And breast cancer came along and just smashed my world” (Janelle’s Journey). Breast cancer is an aggressive war that takes a great amount of fighting to survive. “You go from being perfectly healthy, to feeling like, ‘okay, I’m dying’. It started a whirlwind of things that I never anticipated having to go through.” (Bonnie’s Story- Beyond The Shock). Did you know that the youngest person ever to have been diagnosed with breast cancer
Historically speaking breast cancer has been around for hundreds of years. Thankfully the treatment has improved. Patients who get the cancer removed and take care of themselves after, for example, by exercising and eating healthy, will live longer. There are many risks that increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer, for instance, age, family history, and race. A women who made history with breast cancer was Betty Ford, Betty was one of the first lady’s to speak openly about her disease. Betty encouraged women who have been affected with the disease to go to their doctor as soon as possible and told women who had shared that they didn’t have breast cancer to do self breast exams regularly and get mammograms. She also said when women get diagnosed with it don’t be embarrassed. Treatments in the past were pretty good and quite the same compared to the treatments given to people now, for instance, mastectomy’s which was the primary...
I had the pleasure to interview my grandma, Olga Hernandez. She was born on November 8, 1951 in Cuba. She worked in a workshop making clocks. After she retired, she took care of me while my mom worked. I consider her to be my second mom because she lived with me for eight years. She taught me love, discipline, manners, etc. My grandma is: strong, beautiful, caring, and passionate. Most importantly, she is a breast cancer survivor. I chose to interview my grandma because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I couldn’t think of a better time to do this interview. I like her story because although it’s sad, it has a happy ending. It shows you that no matter how hard things get, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
The truth is that life is full of adversity. Some things are small, some things are big, but all of them need to be overcome. The sooner we all understand that, the less we will all struggle with the 'why me ' question.
It was June 6, 2011. I remember taking my mother to the County Hospital’s emergency room. She seemed extremely exhausted; her eyes were half-closed and yellow, and she placed her elbow on the armchair, resting her head on her palm. I remember it was crowded and the wait was long, so she wanted to leave. I was the only one there with her, but I did not allow her to convince me to take her home. I told her in Spanish, “Mom, let’s wait so that we can get this over with and know what’s going on with you. You’ll see everything is okay, and we’ll go home later on.” I wish then and now that would have been the case. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with colon cancer that had spread to many parts of her body including her lungs and kidneys. The doctor said to me not considering that I was a minor and my mother’s daughter, “Her disease is very advanced and we don’t think she will live longer than a year.” With this devastating news, I did not know what to do. I thought to myself that perhaps I should cry, or try to forget and take care of her as best I could and make her laugh to ease her pain.