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"YOU HAVE BREAST CANCER."
No woman ever wants to hear those words—or have one office visit change her life. Yet the 175,000 American women who'll face breast cancer this year will be forced to redefine their priorities and come to terms with the reality of loss—the loss of a breast, the loss of hair during treatment, and ultimately the loss of a sense of security.
But when breast cancer survivor Christine Clifford was first diagnosed in 1994, she refused to be crippled by fear. She renewed her commitment to God, researched her disease, and looked for the humor in her situation.
Amy Kuelbs , a four-time cancer survivor, ran a marathon four months after her treatment for the third bout. "I choose to have a positive attitude through this and continue to live a normal, active life," she says.
Sue Buchanan was given less than a year to live, but she didn't allow herself to dwell on her survival odds. "I refused to embrace those statistics," Sue says. That diagnosis was made 16 years ago—and today Sue's alive and healthy.
Each of these three women have faced cancer with spunk, perseverance, prayer, humor, and especially hope—particularly important considering the sobering statistics about breast cancer: One out of every 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. And every 3 minutes a woman in the U.S. is diagnosed.
Despite the odds, most women diagnosed with breast cancer survive the disease. If detected early, they have a 5-year survival rate of more than 95 percent. The problem is that fewer than a third of American women follow recommended guidelines for monthly self-examinations and mammograms (see page 65).
Through monthly self-exams, Christine, Amy, and Sue discovered the disease and responded quickly. And through their healing process, they each decided to do something inspiring, challenging, and significant: to use their circumstances to comfort and encourage others with cancer. Here are their stories.
Laughter IS Good MedicineCHRISTINE CLIFFORD was a teen when her mother, Mickey, underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer and slipped into clinical depression. "Mom stopped washing her hair, brushing her teeth, shaving her legs," Christine recalls. "It was as though Mom crawled into bed and never came out again. After about a year, my father left my mom, and everything in my life changed forever."
For more than 20 years, Christine prayed that no matter what happened in her life, she'd never experience breast cancer.
By the end of her 40th year, everything in her life was going beautifully. Christine and her husband, John, were approaching their 20th wedding anniversary. They had 2 active boys: Tim, 10, and Brooks, 8. And she was savoring her success as senior executive vice president of a large international marketing company. "I was on top of the world," Christine says.
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