These are my pink running shoes.

Someone asked me recently if I wear them to remind me of my breast cancer.

No.

I don’t need pink shoes, ribbons or even a special month dedicated to breast cancer awareness to remind me of my breast cancer. I have a daily reminder when I take my medication and see the scars that cancer left in it’s wake.

It is October though and Breast Cancer Awareness Month which means you will see pink everywhere! The goal is to remind you to schedule your mammogram. Without a mammogram who knows how long my cancer would have gone undetected. It wasn’t something that I could feel during a self exam and my doctors couldn’t feel it either, try as they might. The reality is that raising awareness is an important part of fighting this disease. Mammograms save lives, but you have to get one, you can’t just talk about it. There is a common misconception that most women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history. In fact, when my radiologist informed me of my cancer I emphatically told him I had no family history as if this fact would negate his diagnosis. The truth is that less than 15% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have any family history of the disease (breast cancer.org).

Please schedule your mammogram today. It could save your life.

This October marks 3 years since I was undergoing my own treatment I am grateful to all of my doctors and the ongoing care that I receive. Every morning I lace up my pink running shoes and I go outside and breathe in the crisp, Colorado air and say a prayer of thanks. My pink shoes don’t remind me I had cancer. They remind me that I am still here. They remind me to keep going, to live fully, to be grateful, joyful and to say yes more than I say no. They remind me to not waste this precious time and they remind me that I still have some races left in me.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G