Honoring my Mom

Last week my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It's sounding like the prognosis is good, but she still has to go through all the emotional and physical trauma of having the dreaded c-word. From finding all the right doctors to digesting and understanding the information and then on to the treatment - likely surgery and chemo - I can't even imagine what it's like. Especially for someone who so much likes to be in control :).

My mom (like most mothers I'm sure) has always been the one in the family taking care of us, worrying about us, and dealing with all our problems. Even now that she has two 30 year old or nearly 30 year old daughters. She's really good at self-sacrifice. It's always hard when she's the one who's sick; she likes to take care of herself but once at least she let Matt and me take her to urgent care. Where she wouldn't let us come inside with her so we wouldn't get sick too.

So in the spirit of feeling helpless because our mom has a nasty disease, Karen and I decided to make at least ourselves feel better by starting a team for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer - a 3 mile walk in Phoenix on November 6th. We are walking in honor of our mom and to raise awareness - it has of course hit closer to home that self breast exams and regular screenings are super important. If you're in the area, please consider joining our team. Just come walk with us to support our Mom and all the other breast cancer patients - no registration fee or fundraising necessary.

Visit: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/joansjuggernaut


And now for some evidence of what an awesome mom I have. (And also an attempt to make my photostream less ghetto...)

Here she is (along with my dad) visiting us in beautiful Socorro, New Mexico:


Walking me down the aisle:


And with me and my sister - now self-labeled as Joan's Juggernaut:


And much thanks to my dad who has been supporting mom through all the doctor's appointments so far.