Cards From the Heart Card Drive Announcement and Sharing my Heart

Happy New Year Everybody!

I hope you all had a great year last year! 

I, unfortunately have not. :( I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in August of this year and have been undergoing chemo the last 3 months and I still have 2 months months of it to go and them I will have surgery and possibly radiation. This caught our entire family off-guard! We don't have any history of Breast Cancer in our family. Breast cancer is usually hormone driven, either Estrogen, Progesterone, or Her 2, but mine is none of those, which is called Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Researchers are unsure what causes this type of breast cancer and they have only known about it for the last 20 years. It is a very aggressive cancer and has a high rate of re-occurrence. I asked my Oncologist if it could have been caused by stress and she said Absolutely! I told her about losing our house in a house fire 2 years ago and losing a lot of loved ones right after and she said, it sure could have been! I believe with my whole heart that that is what caused mine! I am very hopeful that I can beat it with the help of the Lord! He has carried me this whole time! And family has been Awesome! 

I wanted to share a few pictures of my journey. I turned 40 in October and decided that that was the day that I was going to shave my hair since my scalp started to get painful and I was starting to lose my hair pretty fast. So I shaved the first strip to show the devil and cancer that I'm beating them! Then my Amazing husband shaved it the rest of the way and my sweet son was holding my hand and my sweet daughter capturing the moment with taking pictures through her tears! 💓

 (My 40th Birthday Photo shoot.)

    

                                       

(Shaving my hair.) :(

(My bald head.) :)

(My new wig.)

I have learned so much about myself through this journey and I know I have a lot more I will learn! But what I have learned is I'm a lot stronger than I ever thought I was or could be! You have to be strong to go through something like this...it's not easy! The Lord is definitely my strength! 

And one last bit of advice. Do your self breast exams every month, go to your well women exams every year, get your Mammograms every year, and if you ever feel a lump...get it checked out! I had a clear mammogram in January 2019 and accidentally found a lump in June 2019! 

It happens that fast! 

So with all that said, I unfortunately will not be having the Valentine's Day Card Drive this year. My life is consumed with Dr's appointments, chemo every week, and just trying to heal, that I just don't have time to do it this year. It breaks my heart! I hope you all understand. I'm not sure what the future holds for the Card Drive, I'll just have to take it day by day. 

I want to Thank all of you for the continued support you have given me and the Card Drive every year, I appreciate it so much! 

I hope you all have a Healthy and Happy 2020!

~Winter