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Hello friends & family!
On behalf of our dear friend Ally Briden, we are reaching out for much appreciated and needed assistance. As many of you know, Ally is one of the most generous, big-hearted people we know. She has always been there to help others – always and for the past two years, since her diagnosis, she has refused numerous offers to fundraise. So independent and strong!
Now she needs our help. Her cancer is stage 3, and not in remission. And, on top of everything else, she has recently identified some serious black mold issues in her home that require extensive work to repair.
Here is Ally’s story, in her own words:
August 13th. 2012 – 8 p.m. The moment your life is forever changed...
Your hand stops over the lump and a sharp, deep, fear strikes.
Disbelief, shock, terror.
You run your hand over it again, hoping it wasn't there and you were somehow wrong.
But it is there.
Your mind and heart begin to race.
How could I have missed this?
You have to sit down, but you can't sit still.
You go to the mirror and you check again, more carefully. Both sides.
You cannot control your thoughts.
You imagine the worst and you feel a sense of dread wash over your entire body.
Scared and helpless.
Losing your way of life.
What will this do to your family? Your friends?
What about the job you genuinely love?
Your future seems wiped out completely.
Every plan you made suddenly disappears.
You try to convince yourself over and over, you say to yourself, it cant be. It has to be something else.
But in your heart of hearts, you just know. Somehow you just know.
What you thought was so important a moment ago, does not seem at all important now...what didn't seem important before is very important now.
An hour passes, then 2, then a few more, you can't sleep, you are numb, until the sun rises and it is finally morning.
You know you need to shut down the fear and act immediately.
You place the call to your doctor and make an appointment to get in that day.
You look into your Dr’s eyes and you know it’s bad. Very bad.
You are immediately sent for tests, biopsies, scans, more tests, more biopsies and then the pathology report comes in.
It confirms what you already know. It is a very aggressive form of breast cancer and it has spread.
Advanced Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, spread to the lymphatic system, E+, Her2+, Grade 3, Stage 3.
The statistics for survival are not promising.
You are told fighting this cancer is now your full time job.
You blame yourself, you shame yourself, you have regrets.
Nothing can ever bring you back to the moment before you found the lump.
Nothing.
But in the process of discovery, you have to find a way to let go of the self -blame and the regrets.
You will know what needs to be done in the here and now and the choices you made in the past are no longer important.
This will require a gruelling course of treatment. First chemo to try to stop the spread, then surgery, then more chemo then radiation, then more surgery, then more chemo, and you try your hardest to smile through the pain and laugh through the tears.
When the shock dissipates you find your power and with the love and support of those around you, you take each day on your own kind of determination and the belief that every day you fight, is a day closer to your goal...being a Survivor.
It is my hope that one day I will have my health back and be able to return to the work force.
And it is my greatest hope that one day I will be able to Pay It Forward.
Think Pink , Live Green.
Future Survivor Ally Briden
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