Laura L. Smith
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PINK RIBBONS

10/20/2015

4 Comments

 
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​I never got to meet my maternal grandmother, because she lost the fight with breast cancer when my mom was still in high school. Devastating. My mom’s sister, my aunt Sheila, also lost her life to breast cancer while I was so young, my memories of her are few and fleeting. And although I never had the opportunity to develop relationships with these ladies, they are still my family, my roots, my gene pool. This isn’t just another cause to me. This is part of my story.
 
And because these branches of my family tree died from breast cancer I’m at high risk. I can’t control if I ever contract breast cancer or not. But there are still things I can do. Things you can do too.
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You’d have to be blind not to realize October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink is everywhere, which is awesome, because I love pink. But it’s even more awesome, because so many companies, brands, teams and every day people have gotten in on this fight against breast cancer. Every time we buy a cup with a pink ribbon on it or a bottle of One Hope Chardonnay (it’s not too good to be true, there really is wine with a cause) a little more money helps researchers find a cure, once and for all, for this life stealing disease. 
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Wine for a cause
But there’s more we can do.
 
Something more personal than football players wearing pink cleats. Something more powerful than eating pink M&M’s. Don’t get me wrong, I love all M&M’s and enjoy the pink ones extra bunches. I also get a kick out of seeing macho athletes wearing pink.
 
But there are things we can do that start with us, that begin with caring for our true reflections. We can eat right and exercise, because both of those things reduce the risk of breast cancer by 20-40%. Wow! Pass the whole grains and my gym shoes, please. Not to mention eating right and exercising reduces the risks of a lot of other nasty diseases too. If you’re over forty-five, please get your annual mammogram. And, it seems uncomfortable and awkward and strange to talk about, but we have to do our breast self-exams, girls! If you are old enough to wear a bra, you’re old enough to start doing self-exams. We know our bodies better than any one else. We are the ones most likely to discover a lump, to know the difference between a lump, a bruise, or poison ivy, or to know intuitively that something is out of sorts, out of place. How are we going to know? Because if we check ourselves monthly we’re figuring out what normal is. We’ll know what our breasts are supposed to feel and look like. So if they don’t feel or look like themselves, we can hightail it to our doctors and have  things checked out.
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You are beautiful. God made you. And because He made you, He longs for you to take care of yourself.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
 
Take care of that body so one day your granddaughters and nieces will know you, will laugh with you and share with you. Glorify God by caring enough to check in with your body. Feel free to reward yourself with some pink M&M’s afterwards as a ribbon for taking such good care of you.
4 Comments
Patty
10/21/2015 08:04:01 am

My Mom recently passed away at the end of April. She had breast cancer twice and a masectomy. Her cancer treatments took away the cancer, but in the end she died of the complications from all the radiation and chemotherapy that she endured. I am very aware that it possibly makes me more susceptible to breast cancer and I try to keep my body healthy and pass that on to my three daughters.

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Laura Smith link
10/21/2015 12:46:29 pm

Patty - wow, thank you for sharing. I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. Praying God will comfort you and give you peace every time you miss her (every day, I bet). What a blessing you are to your daughters to pass on a healthy lifestyle, and clearly lots and lots of love.

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Vicki Maguire link
10/22/2015 02:53:55 pm

Laura, this topic for my blog is one I've written 20 times in my head. Thank you for share. Grandmother and Mom survivors and at 42 it was my turn. God watched over me. I had no time to worry as we just moved and I had two young boys. But today, I've lost so many to this disease.
Two young neighbors now. One died this summer.
Some race, row,walk, fundraiser, I paint etc. it just baffles me how so little progress has been made. I'm sorry but what is so elusive? People live now with HIV. We never thought that was possible. Free clinics are available for mammograms .... Not Planned phood. So I'm sensing some courage to write. Especially, because one read I enjoyed the most was Kathy La Tour . After the technical review, snippets of feelings are documented. No two ladies have the same fears or concern. These strangers made more sense than comments like "it could be worse" or they launch into the horrors of the issues of friends or the killer.... "Yeah, I know how you Feel" no, only the Lord does. Thanks fore the blog. And all ladies, teens need to understand. I pray it moves up on the list of research faster. Blessings, Laura, vicki

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Laura Smith link
10/22/2015 03:15:28 pm

Vicki,
Thank you for being vulnerable enough to share. I'm so grateful my blog will encourage you to write yours. Please let me know when you post it. I would be honored to read it. I also know so many currently battling, but so grateful for a God who is bigger than it all. I also pray it moves up on the research list. The awareness is there, now let's pray for a cure. Blessings to you!

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