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Thursday, April 28th, 2011

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Connie

On thinking about her children…

“..I wasn’t scared at first, because I had had cysts, and I just thought it was going to be that.  They called me at work and they told me it was cancer, you know.

And that was just hard words to hear, because my mom only lived a year with breast cancer, and I thought I was going to die.

And, all I could think about was my kids.”

“It was probably my last appointment with my surgeon where he said I should probably do the BRCA test.

I was only 20 when my mom got cancer, and my mom’s mom found out she had cancer when she was 57.  So, I did the test, and it turned out I had it. (BRCA)  And, of course, I just thought about my kids, that they were going to have it.  But, Michelle was the only one.”

“I pray every night that it won’t come back and that the rest of my family won’t get it.

I am very self aware of my own body.

Since I had the surgery, the only thing that is going to tell me I have cancer again, is me.”

Connie Swieter | 55 | Hampton, IA | wife to Dennis | mother of Michelle and Michael | billing and collection clerk

Diagnosis: Ductal Breast Cancer  November 2009 | Bilateral Mastectomy  December 2009  December 2010 | survivor