Be Your Own Hero...

Hope for More Tomorrows....

Inspiring Breast Cancer Quotes When You Need a Lift...

Whatever path you're on in you're breast cancer journey, draw strength from those that had battled before you. As Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survivor, Robin Robers would say, "This too shall pass." More inspiring quotes can be viewed at http://www.healthline.com/health/breast-cancer/quotes

"Never lose sight of Hope... Hope for More Tomorrows!" - Melissa Paskvan

My personal Hero!

Triple Negative Breast Cancer Does Not Discriminate: Introducing My TNBC Pink Sisters

TNBC Statistics

"Some of the most 

comforting in words in the

universe are "me too." That

moment when you find out

that your struggle is also

someone else's struggle

that you're not alone, and

that others have been

down the same road."

~ Unknown

Because Triple Negative Breast Cancer Is Actually a Group of Diseases...

Triple Negative Breast Cancer Sisters Courage to Let Go

 Remembering someone special...
Heaven gained an angel.

Life's new beginning... 

We've lost too many young women to Triple Negative Breast Cancer this past year in our TNBC Sisters support group. This month in January, Three more sisters were called home to our Lord to be our sister angels. They are the real victors in their cancer battles, They fought hard with all they had, clinging to life. In the end, they had the courage to let go... let go of their suffering, the anxiety and their exhaustion as they're in transit to move on to their next life's journey in Heaven. Leaving behind their loved ones, children and friends is the hardest part of their journey, much harder than us saying good-bye to our sweet sisters. God Bless their families and may Michelle Streat, Marie Ashton and Melissa Gollnick rest peacefully now.



"Always in our thoughts - Forever in our hearts."

Michelle Oleson Streat, age 42
Passed January 13, 2013
from nearly 4½ yr. battle with TNBC

Marie Ashton, age 40
Passed January 28, 2013
from TNBC

Melissa Gollnick, Age 35
Passed January 31, 2013 
from TNBC, less than a month 
after recurrence diagnosis

http://www.phillyburbs.com/obituaries/burlington_county_times/melissa-a-gollnick/article_da179c2d-232e-5896-927d-ce6fbfd6885c.html
(Click link to obituary for Melissa Gollnick)

Now An Angel, Marie Anello-Algeri Educated Of Her Illness, Inflammatory Breast Cancer- "I Never Heard Of IBC Before Being Diagnosed And Always Assumed Breast Cancer Only Presented Itself With Lump."

"A tiny flower, lent not given,
to bud on earth and bloom in heaven."

Friends, though absent, are still present.

Shortly before Christmas, It took me by surprise that a dear breast cancer friend, Marie Anello-Algeri's health has a taken a turn and was receiving Hospice Care. I knew for at least a year that Marie was stage 4 but never really had spoken much of her illness for she was always so upbeat and joked often with us in our online group. Marie had Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) that has spread to her brain believed to be a Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). Hearing of Marie's passing the day after Christmas, December 26, 2012 at  age 42, heartbreaking... Been feeling the sadness among us TNBC sisters in our online support group. Marie was a one-of-a-kind very sweet, beautiful and caring woman and a mother who hurts leaving her 4 children behind. May your memory lives on within our hearts, and may God Bless your Children as you shine down upon them. No more worries, no more treatments, no more pain... just peace I pray for you, Marie. I will treasure the kindness and thoughtfulness that Marie had shown in our friendship. I feel a need to bring more awareness to Marie's original diagnosis of Inflammatory Breast Cancer.  

"no lump, still cancer"  ~Terry Lynn Arnold

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and very aggressive disease in which cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. This type of breast cancer is called “inflammatory” because the breast often looks swollen and red, or “inflamed.”
Inflammatory breast cancer accounts for 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancers diagnosed in the United States. Most inflammatory breast cancers are invasive ductal carcinomas, which means they developed from cells that line the milk ducts of the breast and then spread beyond the ducts.
Inflammatory breast cancer progresses rapidly, often in a matter of weeks or months. Inflammatory breast cancer is either stage III or IV at diagnosis, depending on whether cancer cells have spread only to nearby lymph nodes or to other tissues as well.

Signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include:

• Rapid change in the appearance of one breast, over the course of several weeks
• Thickness, heaviness or visible enlargement of one breast
• Discoloration, giving the breast a red, purple, pink or bruised appearance
• Unusual warmth of the affected breast
• Dimpling or ridges on the skin of the affected breast, similar to an orange peel
• Tenderness, pain or aching
• Enlarged lymph nodes under the arm, above the collarbone or below the collarbone
• Flattening or turning inward of the nipple

Inflammatory breast cancer doesn't commonly form a lump, as occurs with other forms of breast cancer.

* Inflammatory breast tumors are frequently hormone receptor negative, which means that hormone therapies, such as tamoxifen, that interfere with the growth of cancer cells fueled by estrogen may not be effective against these tumors.

* A disproportionately higher percentage of IBC patients have triple-negative breast cancer. From a study of 144 patients diagnosed with IBC at MD Anderson, 36% were TN IBC.

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/21/3/564.1.abstract

For more information on Inflammatory breast cancer, please follow this link, no lump-still cancer www.theibcnetwork.org Terry Lynn Arnold, founder, The IBC Network-Inflammatory Breast Cancer Network

dx Triple Negative Inflammatory Breast Cancer, summer 2007

"Perhaps they are not stars,
 but openings in heaven,
where the love of our lost ones
pours through and shines down upon us,
to let us know they are happy."

"Important for people to know any change in your breast should be reported to your doctor and have IBC ruled out. I only had very slight swelling, barely noticable and was diagnosed at stage IV. Awareness is key, I never heard of IBC before being diagnosed and always assumed breast cancer only presented itself with lump."  ~ Marie Anello-Algeri

Marie Anello-Algeri | Moloney Family Funeral Homes

www.moloneyfh.com/obituaries/2012/marie-anello-algeri

All I Want For Christmas Is...

Hope For Tomorrow...

When asked what was on her bucket list, she replied... tomorrow.
~Unknown

In Memory Of Lisa's Dowaliby's Beautiful Mother, Maureen

Maureen Lamantia

Maureen Lamantia, Age 65. Departed October 2012.  So very sorry hearing of Lisa Dowaliby's mom passing. She fought this battle so hard with Lisa always beside her, supporting  and comforting her. Lisa, I know your mom really appreciated you always being there for her and learning so much about TNBC so you can better understand your mother's battle. You're a great daughter, I'm sure your mom was very proud of you. Lisa, if there's anything... we're all here for you. Your mom and you will always be part of our TNBC sisters family. 

"All that I am, or hope to be,

I owe to my angel mother"

Maureen and daughter, Lisa Dowaliby

http://www.warwickonline.com/stories/Maureen-Lamantia,76196?category_id=20&town_id=1&sub_type=stories (Click link to obituary)

The Moment You Think About Giving Up...

She Believed She Could...

3 years ago today, I became a survivor of Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) with no targeted therapy yet. I am blessed with each day of life and hold all that are part of my life very close to my heart.
It's been a heart-aching year with

 the lost of 8 TNBC pink sisters this past year, all who were diagnosed after I was and 2 that I was very close to. I continue to fight along side of those that are still battling and those in remembrance that had touched my heart.
I still keep up with my blog/website http://mlsspaskvan.blogspot.com turning it into a more of an informational and inspirational site for TNBC; posting latest research articles, events I've participated in, stories and memorials on my TNBC pink sisters, and other postings of same interests.
With my blog site, I have reached out to people all over the world reaching many countries in every continent with over 38,000 views to my site. My hope is that my site will help others to have hope, give them the strength to fight and to provide resources to get them the information they need to know about this TNBC subtype.
It is discouraging some knowing that there has been very little advancement in research since my diagnosis in 2009, and that Triple Negative Breast Cancer still remains a medical unmet need. Researchers have learned just in the past several months that TNBC is an extremely complex disease.
TNBC is not just one disease but 6 different subtypes of it in itself. Also, each tumor displays multiple "clonal genotypes" with each cancer at a different stage in the evolutionary process at the time of diagnosis which explains why TNBC patients responds so differently to, or is resistance to treatment.
Ladies, Triple Negative Breast Cancer is a very serious disease and is striking much younger women in their 20's, 30's and 40's. Please keep up with your monthly self exams for early detection is key for survival...
and please tell your 20 yr. olds daughters that they need to be doing this too.
I thank you all again for your support in breast cancer awareness ♥

"It's not what I have been through 

in my life that defines who I am, 

it's how I got through it that has 

made me the person I am today!"

Fight For Whitney Lowe, Remembering My Triple Negative Breast Cancer Sister, 26 yrs. Young...

Whitney Yoder Lowe

I sit here and try to make sense of why we're losing so many sisters to Triple Negative Breast Cancer, why Whitney? She was 26,  just way too young to be dealing with breast cancer. On Friday, June 8, 2012, after a 19 month courageous battle with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, my friend, Whitney Lowe went to sleep to drift away into the arms of our loving God to be among our other TNBC pink angels. Whitney was surrounded by her loving family, telling them that she loved them and she'll see them all soon... shortly afterwards, she passed peacefully.  Passing on the day of their local Relay for Life walk, that evening 16 of her family member gathered to walk in the event in memory of their beloved Whitney. As promised to Whitney, her mother, Sandy will continue to keep her legacy alive as she will advocate for the fight against Triple Negative Breast Cancer and spread awareness of the importance of early detection in young women... This was Whitney's wish.

I had just visited Whitney and her mother, Sandy just 2½ weeks prior knowing this would be my last visit with Whit but it was a very nice visit. I have witnessed the most loving  and courageous connection between a mother and daughter, they were a "team" as they both would say... I admired that in them two. If there was fear of uncertainty, Whitney did not show it.  Sandy remained strong for her daughter, in survival mode living life with Whitney for today.  Whitney so wanted to live and hoped her latest chemo treatment would be her "miracle" but her cancer had spread and weakened her body. A couple of months prior, Whitney had taken her dream tropical vacation to Puerto Rico with her family, a family togetherness that leaves treasured memories of her love and happiness, this was her living life to the fullest. 

Last August 2011, I was thrilled to meet Whitney and her mother, Sandy face to face during one of her chemo treatments at the Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio. I had met them both through my online TNBC Support Group shortly after Whitney's diagnosis. Whitney was a beautiful, sweet  and amazingly brave young lady who had so much life to fight for, but her clinical trials had eventually failed her... healing prayers were all that was left to offer.

May you rest peacefully, Whitney as we continue your fight for other young women faced with this dreaded disease... Whit, you'll always be in my heart, and you will be missed by all that you have touched, love you my sister. 
Sandy, I pray God gives you the strength to bring you through this... you and Whit are an inspiration to women everywhere, I love you my dear sis.

Sandy, Whitney and me

Us Triple Negative Breast Cancer Sisters so need our targeted therapy and ultimately a cure for all of us.
We desperately need TNBC research moved into clinical trials, then moved into FDA approved treatment, we don't have time for the 5 year wait for this transition to happen.
http://www.tnbcfoundation.org/donate.htm
(Click on link to make a donation to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation for research)
Thank you.

God took an angel,
but we gained a guardian

Death leaves

 a heartache 

no one 

can heal,

Love leaves

a memory 

 no one 

can steal.

http://www.the-daily-record.com/obituaries/2012/06/10/whitney-lowe 

(Link to obituary)

http://www.the-daily-record.com/local%20news/2012/06/10/walking-in-their-honor-memory-at-relay-for-life#.T9SNZnQ4rAY.email 
(Link to Relay for Life story)

Remembering Our Pink Twisted Sister, Rita...

Even Though you're gone, I won't let you fade away~

Rita Purbasari Soesanto, my beautiful Indonesia babygirl at the age of 40, was strong enough to let go on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 to rest and move on to the gates of her new journey of eternal life with our loving God... leaving behind her her pain, her suffering, her anxiety, and it is with great sadness, she left all of us loved ones too. Rita is finally free and at peace from her nightmare called cancer.
In September of 2008, Rita was diagnosed with Stage 3 ductal invasive HER2 positive breast cancer. She had 6 rounds of chemo, mastectomy, 25 rads and Tamofen pills to follow. August 2010, Rita had a recurrence in her neck lymph gland and a 2cm tumor on left side of her brain. Her new treatment was 17 Herceptine infusions every 3 weeks, Xeloda and 20 rads to neck and shoulder, the brain tumor was gone. October 2011 more small swollen lumps and glands were found around her neck and shoulder again, now continues the Xeloda and Tykerb was to be taken for a year to slow the cancer down. From what I know, she's been trying to seek treatments here in the states for better treatment, for the chemo that she had been given were outdated, apparently taken off the market in the U.S. As recently as this past February, Rita was having more issues with lumps reappearing in neck and shoulders again and was having complications with fluids filling her lungs and tumors around her heart and was having much difficulty.
Rita had posted in early May that she almost lost life in ICU but reassured us that she was getting better, no worries. It was a lot more serious than that... Our last message from her was from her cell phone just 1 day prior to her passing, "I lov u all... Thanks 4 everytings.. Long time hospital recoverinng don't know when Its over." The next day, I learned of her passing and I was stunned, she knew and she was saying goodbye but I had dismissed that thought. As much as I will miss my sweet Rita dearly, this brings me comfort knowing that Tracy will be reunited with one of us, "Twisted Sisters" again. I can only imagine how great this reunion is going to be for Rita and Tracy... As I'm tearing up right now, I'm so happy that they're together, Tracy adored Rita too.
Rita was such a joy to have known, so positive, funny, and always cheerful. She joked and goofed around with us in "Twisted Sisters", she was a perfect fit within our group, in a fun "twisted" kind of way, but it was all good. We all loved Rita, bringing much laughter into the group. She was loving and a carefree spirit who knew how to live life with all of her adventures. Rita wrote back in April 2011, "this is what i called live the life to the fullest.. i am living with my cancers, i done dancing with the strippers, i was hugging with the lion and orang utans and tiger cob, and i swam with the sharks.. so, ladies, when you have final stage of cancer.. you shall not DIE NOW.. DIE LATER.. and when you live, enjoy your live to the TOP... ;) ;) well. you know i am wild and crazy!! ehhehehe ... but live is soooooooooo much FUN!!! dont waste it.." Rita never showed fear, You can see in her photos how happy she was with her huge smiles and how precious every moment was to her... she was terminal but she never let her diagnosis hold her back, she had much more living to do and she was going to have fun. Rita, you've touched our lives any you will always be my babgirl as I will always be her Momma as she would call me. You'll be missed, Heaven has gained a beautiful angel.
                                                   

Those we love don't go away

They walk beside us everyday

        Unseen, unheard, but always near

            Still loved, still missed and very dear

LIVE WELL, LIVE LIFE...

I Know Many Women Of Strength...

Purple passion...

Purple Passion Flower: On one of my visits to Tracy's in NC,
Tracy was on her tractor mowing her property when afterwards she
came in the house with this flower vine that she pulled up and
thought it was pretty and thought I would like it and gave it to me.
 So thoughtful and so beautiful.

To Melissa my cousin. 

My Reflection to you. Understanding death does not always make sense. It leaves us human and uncertain of the next journey. Not only for those that have to leave us and move forward, but for ourselves feeling lonely without them. I know that in our hearts we have been given the gift of their love and it lives on. What a beautiful gift. I believe we will be blessed and see them again. Love you Melissa. 

               ~ Gail L. Terry Burd

Sisterhood...

The Pink Ribbon Sisterhood

Some women are faced with an insurmountable fight ...
A battle with a deadly unseen enemy that will connect them
With a strength they never knew they had ...
It's the most difficult thing
Many of us will ever face.

The battle is not easy ... but it is a fight we know we will win.
To be triumphant we must do everything we can to search for a cure ...
Medically, spiritually and with lifestyle changes.
We must also expand our horizons
And share the knowledge of our quest with those around us
Helping others on their journey too.

But even more than that, we must stand
As a shining example of how to survive

We are not alone. We're part of a great sisterhood
Supporting each other in the ultimate fight for life.
So for ourselves, our daughters, our sisters and our friends
We all wear a pink ribbon!

- Suzy Toronto

Tracy Barrett Geiger Krieser, My Triple Negative Breast Cancer Sister's Memorial

"If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."

I did fly back down again to Tracy's this past weekend for her memorial. It was a beautiful service with her photos and diploma's displayed. A stained glass pink ribbon hanging was gifted to Tracy and a beautiful broken wagon wheel memorial with picture of her and her horse on it was also displayed. Tracy's horse saddle was displayed along with her riding hat and boots, a beautiful tribute to her. Sam, who sang at her wedding also sang at her memorial, "Amazing Grace" with her acoustic guitar player... I have never heard anyone sing this song more beautiful as she did. Wendy stood up and spoke of their friendship and their sisterly bond and Tracy's love for life. Tracy's husband spoke of their dating, marriage, her step kids, traveling and their life together and he added some humor, I know Tracy would have been proud of him. Tracy's good friend, Sam put together a very nice slide show presentation of Tracy's cherished moments.  The first 2 pews in the church were reserved for family to be seated with family and close friends, I was honored to be included. Tracy had military honors at her memorial with 5 Marines, one played "Taps" with an electric trumpet, two unfolded the American Flag and then refolded it and kneeled in front of her husband offering words of condolence and presented the flag to him... very touching. We all gathered back at Tracy's house for food and drinks. Tracy's chiropractor was there giving everyone neck crack adjustments, lightening up the mood in this gathering. It was a beautiful celebration of Tracy's life, and she will be missed by all that knew her. God Bless Tracy and her family.

.legacy.com/obituaries/jdnews/obituary.aspx?n=tracy-krieser&pid=155625462

(Click on link to Tracy's obituary)