• Health and Fitness

    My “Small” Cancer Turned Out to Be Stage 4 Breast Cancer

    October 1, 2024 - By 

    As told to Jacquelyne Froeber October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. December is my birthday month. It was also the month I scheduled all my yearly health exams, including my mammogram. But December 2014 was busy, I guess. (I burned all my journals from that time — but that’s another story.) I don’t remember why I didn’t go for my mammogram, but I didn’t get one until June 2015. The day after the exam I got a phone call. There was something abnormal in the imaging, and I needed to have a biopsy. I was a nurse, so I knew…

  • Health and Fitness

    I Was “Too Young” to Have Colon Cancer

    September 30, 2024 - By 

    Español As told to Shannon Shelton Miller I was thrilled to be pregnant with my first child at 29. Everything went well for about eight months — until the day I went to the restroom and the toilet was full of blood. I immediately called my OB-GYN because I was scared something was wrong with my baby. At the appointment, he assured me we both were fine. It was probably just hemorrhoids or my baby was starting to rest on my organs as he grew bigger, leading to some bleeding. But new symptoms started to show up. I was dizzy,…