By Vera Viner
This is a story of just one young woman who has had to deal with the horror of breast cancer. Her cancer has spread to the point where she has to get her breasts removed. She is getting a double mastectomy – a bilateral skin-sparing mastectomy. At thirty years old, this woman will lose both breasts. This incredible woman is “over boo-hooing about it right now.”
Her name is Lillian and she lives in Chicago. She is clearly a very brave woman. She is allowing me to write about her and she is getting her story out through videos on YouTube in order to help other breast cancer survivors cope with this disease. She has made a video before her mastectomy and is planning on making another video updating her life post-surgery. She talks of how important it is to “rise above” the overwhelming feelings cancer brings. This is the way this young woman lives her life – she fights until she comes out on top. She is the perfect role model for all women dealing with breast cancer. If you keep fighting, you can beat this disease. Staying positive is what will get you through this miserable cancer. We must also support each other in the fight against cancer. It’s important to keep close to your family and friends during this time.
Lillian explains that it will take about a year for her to get reconstructive surgery on her chest. The surgeon has to put spanders in right after the mastectomy, which will help expand her chest back to normal over time. It will definitely take a while before this young woman will be in the same state as before the cancer overtook her life. Lillian has had to go through FIVE months of chemotherapy. She went through 16 rounds of chemotherapy and will have to go through six weeks of radiation after her surgery. This cancer has taken her hair and will be taking her breasts. But there is no way she will let breast cancer take her life.
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