I’m pretty strong.  I don’t let a lot of things get me.

To me, it is what you make of it.

It wasn’t anything I felt like I had any control over, other than doing the treatments and taking care of myself at home.

I didn’t want to be bitter.

I didn’t feel like I had been dealt a bad hand.

Sitting at home feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to work.

I don’t take life as seriously now.  I try to do things that I enjoy doing, and put the other stuff on the back burner.

I let a lot of things and relationships, that were too much work, go.

Now I’ve got more friends than I know what to do with.

I try to take one day at a time, and enjoy the people I’m with.  I try to do things that I might not normally do.

Pam Moran | 56 | Mansfield, TX | mother of Jesse and Corey | wife to Ron |homemaker

Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer  August 2005 | Lumpectomy  September 2005 | Chemotherapy  November 2005 – January 2006 | Radiation  January – February 2006 | Survivor

“I got home, (after the diagnosis), and I got down on my knees, and I said, ‘Thank you…that I have health insurance.

And, thank you, that I have a family.

And, thank you, I don’t have young children at home.

Thank you, that I live in the metroplex and have access to good medical care.’

I mean, you get real basic.

I literally got on my knees.

Then, I got up and walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.

And I pointed at myself and said, ‘You know, you’ve got two choices.  You can cry and feel sorry for yourself, or you can suck it up, and you can fight this.’

And that was decision I made.”

“Every day it’s a choice.

Every day, you can find something positive.  I will tell you, my life is much more blessed.

And I had a wonderful life before, but it has been a blessing.

My attitude is that you have to be positive and have very few pity parties; it’s not constructive.  You can change the dialogue in your head.  It shows you who you are, and how strong you are.”

“My prayer, every day, is for the woman who finds out she has breast cancer.”

Marcy England | 51 | Grand Prairie, TX | mother of Charlie and Sam | wife to Kirk | homemaker

Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer  March 2009 | Bilateral Mastectomy  April 2009 | Chemotherapy  May – September 2009 | Radiation  October – November 2009 | Survivor

“I think the hardest thing for me was….I know that young women get breast cancer all the time, but I didn’t know any of them.

I didn’t know where they were.

I would go into the infusion room, and people were older.

And they were all looking at me, and I was looking at them, and I felt like we couldn’t relate.

So, I felt like nobody understood what I was going through.

I get on the message boards a lot, and I meet women my age, but not in person.”

If I could go back and do it over, of course, I wouldn’t want this diagnosis.

But, it’s been such a blessing to me.

All the people, and all the friends that I didn’t know I had… people would go on my Bridge page and tell me what I fighter I was.

Because of breast cancer, I have gotten to talk to people, even if it’s on the Internet, I have made friends for life…. people who would do anything in the world for me.

Now we have a bond together.

And, those people wouldn’t have come into my life if I hadn’t gotten breast cancer.”

Toyah Bray | 36 | Crowley, TX | mother of Lacey and Kyle | wife to Danny | IT project manager

Diagnosis: Stage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma  August 2009 | Lumpectomy  September 2009 | Chemotherapy  October 2009 – February 2010 Radiation  March – May 2010 | Survivor

“From the day the doctor said the word ‘carcinoma’…  You know, your heart stops for a minute.

But I knew, as soon as I breathed again, I knew it was going to be fine. I just knew that I was going to come out of it.

I am the poster child for early detection.

I consider myself very lucky.   If my story gets one person in sooner, then it’s all worth it.

If it saves one person the heartache of suffering more than I did, then the disease served a purpose.”

“You have to listen.

Listen to yourself.

Listen to your body.

Listen to your doctors.

You have to lean on your friends and your family, and you have to fight.

You don’t ever give up.

It doesn’t matter how bad the diagnosis is, you just don’t give up.  You listen and you move forward.  You do everything you can.

Never, ever give up.”

Nancy Pendleton | 56 | Alvarado, TX | mother of Jimmy, Laura, and Amanda | wife to Jim | retired

Diagnosis: Ductal Papillary Carcinoma  August 2008 | Lumpectomy  July 2008 | Radiation  September – October 2008 | Survivor

“I stayed around friends.  If people offer to help you, let ‘em help you.

It helps you and it helps them.

People are doing that because they want to; they want to do something to help.  There’s not a lot they can do, but they can come over and bring food, they can help you with your house, they can run errands for you.

You can’t do it all on your own.”

“My favorite saying, for years, has been, ‘What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.’

Well, this hasn’t killed me, it’s made me stronger.

Since I did have such good help from friends and relatives, I know now, if someone is in crisis, what I need to do, how I can help.

I can sit there, put my arm around them, take a casserole.

Just listening.

You don’t have to fix it.  There’s no way to fix it.

But you can listen.”

Mary Ann Baise | 62 | Grand Prairie, TX | mother of Sean and Cliff | wife to Ron | homemaker

Diagnosis: Breast Cancer  August 2010 | Bilateral Mastectomy  September 2010 | Chemotherapy  September 2010 – February 2011 | Radiation  February – April 2010 | Survivor

“I told myself, ‘I’m not going to cry.’

But I did.

But I also told myself that this is not going to get me.

It is what it is.  It’s not going to kill me.

I’m going to do whatever they tell me to do.  I will do everything they tell me to do.”

“I tend to be a very sacrificial person.  My thing is doing things for other people, and not for myself.

I have a hard time doing things for myself.

I had to show everybody it was no big deal; it’s cancer.  Everybody in the world has cancer of some kind.  It’s not funny, but it’s true.

People fight it every day.

I’m not special.”

“I’m 57 years old, I’ve been through breast cancer twice, and I’m still alive.  I caught a break a long time ago.

I’m not always the most positive person in the world, but I try.”

Teri Guzak | 57 | Edmond, OK | wife to Jim | mother of Jamey | retired

Diagnosis: DCIS  May 2004 | Lumpectomy  June 2004 | Radiation  August – September 2004 | Invasive DCIS   November 2007 | Lumpectomy  December 2007 | Chemotherapy  February – July 2008 |Radiation  September – October 2008 | survivor

“It didn’t really bother me – that my mom was positive for the gene – because at that point, we had gotten rid of the cancer.

That was all I really cared about.

My mom is a very emotional person.  But, through this, she was so strong, the strongest I have ever seen her.”

“I don’t think I’m scared yet, because I don’t have to do anything yet.  I’ve met so many survivors, and I realize that with all Mom had to go through, she was very fortunate.

And, I have nothing to complain about.

If all these women can get through it and be so strong, then I can too.”

“One morning I woke up and I was just crying.  And, my husband said, ‘What are you going to do?’  And I said I didn’t know.

He said, ‘Well, you can sit around and cry about it, or you can embrace it.’

And that was it.  From then on, I just embraced it.”

Michelle Berndt | 29 | Mansfield, TX | wife to Stephen | mother of Grayce and Tristan | admissions representative | mrs. US beauties 2010

Diagnosis: BRCA-1 Positive | fighter

“..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

“My attitude is much better now, much stronger now, because of my faith in God, my family and support.  I know that I have people who love me.

I know that I made it through it.”

“It’s made me humble.  It’s drawn me closer to God.  It makes me want to work and to use my talents.

I want to appreciate me, and love me, and do what I do best.

You have to stay encouraged.  This is just a stepping stone.

I truly don’t believe that God puts more on you than you can handle.

I’m going to see a brighter day.”

Ardelia Bedford | 43 | Grand Prairie, TX | mother of Andre’ | insurance broker

Diagnosis: Ductal Breast Cancer  October 2002 | Lumpectomy  October 2002 | Chemotherapy  December 2002 – February 2003 | Radiation  March 2003 – April 2003 | survivor

“I had just spent 8 years with my daughter, and her ups and downs with her cancer.  (She finally died in 1990.)

So, I knew it was a job to be done, and we just handled it.

I saw my daughter handle her illness with grace and dignity, and I tried to do the same.  The age has so much to do with it.  My daughter had 2 children, and so much she wanted to live for.

By the time I was diagnosed, I’d already lived a full life.”

”I face life.  It’s just something you take care of and you move on.

My philosophy in life, if I have just one, is from Paul in the book of Philippians.  It says, “He hath learned to be content  wherever he was with whatever he had.”  And I have tried to live that, too.

God has blessed us in many ways and I am well aware of my blessings.”

“We are all here for some reason and I am just trying to carry out the purpose.  There is a reason for everything that happens.

Life is just life, you know.

And God gives us capabilities.  We darn well better use them.”

Barbara Staff | 87 | Plano, TX | mother of Susan and Barbara

Diagnosis: Breast Cancer 2004 | Lumpectomy 2004 | Chemotherapy  2004 | survivor