The introduction on the homepage to this website has information about the foundation of this project. Here, I would like to share my thoughts about my mom's breast cancer battle.

It has been very difficult to imagine my life without my mom and often times I catch myself somewhat pretending she is not sick, in order to avoid the reality that she might not be here in 1, 2, 3 years. The survival rate for her type of breast cancer is less than 5 years and my mom feels she is blessed to have lived two years since her diagnosis, which was at the end of April in 2005. She keeps reminding all of us that it is an aggressive cancer, but I still want to believe it can be killed.

I am the baby of five children, and between us five, there are eleven grandchildren. My mom is the baby of ten children...needless to say, we have a large family. I never thought my mom would get breast cancer, because there is no family history of the disease that we have on record. Since doing my own research, I did discover that 85% of women who find out they have breast cancer, have no known family history of the disease. So with that, family history is not always a factor in determining how high or low your risk.

My mom is a wonderful woman who is selfless in all she does. Her profession as a Registered Nurse was perfect for her to choose because, she so perfectly carried out her duties with love, compassion, and much care. Please say a prayer for my mom, Betty Kirk, that she will have many years, many healthy years, with all of us.