At the end of March 2007, just before my oldest daughters "Sweet 16", my husband Ron and I sat in a small hospital room with people we had never met before to find out the biopsy results. We were told that cancer was invading my right breast, and as we would soon find out, also my family. I couldn't use the word CANCER when I told the girls that night, because I wasn't ready. I danced around it with words such as tumor, malignant and treatable. Looking back on it, I was in denial.

The following few months went by quickly. It seemed Cancer had taken over all of my thoughts and actions. I went through two surgeries to completely remove the cancerous tissue. On April 13th I was considered "cancer free". But in my mind there were still two rogue cancer cells that surgery couldn't take care of. One that Chemotherapy would get, and one that radiation would find and kill. I found it helpful to visualize the medicine or radiation seeking out those two cells. On good days the visualization was comical and cartoon like, other days seemed more like a bloody war. But in the end this helped motivate me to go back for more.

Before my hair fell out, Ron, Emily, Elaine, and I went into Chicago to have my head shaved and be fitted for a wig. It was my attempt at taking back control - "I say when I go bald". My hair cut went from my shoulders to chin to ears, until finally one of the girls suggested a Mohawk. Yes, I can now say I've had a Mohawk. We hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, and we needed it. The wig was nice but I felt fake when I was wearing it and during the summer months it was uncomfortable, so the kids I worked with during the summer just knew I would have on a hat every day. Some of them didn't even know I was bald.

The break between chemotherapy and radiation was heaven sent and I enjoyed every minute of recuperation. Then radiation wiped me out. I'm still amazed that laying on a table for a few minutes every day with no pain, can end up making you feel the way radiation does.

As soon as that was complete I started physical therapy to regain my strength and stability. After a few months of taking care of myself and doing what the doctors recommend, I started to feel a little more like my old self, and that's when I called John with the pink ribbon idea. We all had so much fun and John was so professional and compassionate. The photo shoot turned out to be an event that helped bring closure to this cancerous time in our family. I believe God doesn't give me more than I can handle, I just wish he didn't have so much confidence in me! - Nancy