Quote of the Day: “‘Tis the human touch in the world that counts- the touch of your hand and mine, which means far more to the sinking heart than shelter or bread or wine, For shelter is gone when the night is o’ver, and bread lasts only a day, But the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice, Live on in the soul always.” Spencer M. Free
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t hear something about breast cancer maybe because it’s so widespread but I think also because their is a lot of hope that it can be cured if found early. Statistically, 1-8 women will get breast cancer in their lifetime. The rate is higher in the U.S. due to our lifestyle habits and food choices. Yesterday, on the Today Show, there was a young woman, age 36, who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She had been going through infertility treatment when they discovered that she had breast cancer and as she talked about her experience, she said “I got tested for the gene and thank God, I don’t have that!” And of course, the way she said it with such emphasis hit me and I kept hearing her voice all day.
When I walked with a friend that same morning, we discussed the issue of “nature” vs. “nurture” when it comes to cancer. I argue on the side of “nature” because I have a 87% chance in my lifetime of having breast cancer because of this gene I was born with. My friend believes that “nurture” is stronger and that your genes can be controlled by what you eat and how you exercise and stay fit. For the record, I do think it’s extremely important to eat well and to have a safe environment to live in so that our bodies don’t become “poisoned” by chemicals or other dangerous toxins. I also know that because of my healthy lifestyle precancer, I was able to recover from all the treatments quickly feeling pretty strong. There is a great article my friend gave me talking about this subject that I will write about in a few days. But if you go by the medical profession, they are very proactive in counseling you to do whatever you can to minimize the potential of this gene. They would never advise you to simply modify your diet- the risks of developing cancer are just too great. Instead, they counsel you to remove any tissue that allows the cancer to grow.
But, I couldn’t help but realize in discussing this topic, how guilty one feels when they have cancer. You always blame yourself. You do a huge scrutiny of your life, all the things you could have done differently or better. You even feel guilty for not knowing of the potential dangers around you. If this scrutiny helps you to eat better or exercise more in the future, then it’s productive but what if it just makes someone feel guilty for something they had no control over? There is enough heartache understanding cancer without this tremendous burden of guilt.
We’ve all done this but in an effort to better control our world, we like to see a reason for all events, maybe even blame someone for what has happened to them. So when a tragedy happens to someone else, we can say to ourselves “Oh, I’ll never do that” or “Now I know what not to do”. Somehow, we cross that off our list so we don’t have to fear that it could be our reality, someday. I get it, it’s a coping mechanism. It might work to still one’s mind but it’s not a great way to treat another human being.
View of Silver Lake at Brighton- October 2011
I’m with you Joanie, when there have been extensive and exhaustive studies done to show that carrying this gene gives you an 87% chance of getting breast cancer and 40% chance of getting ovarian cancer, how can you argue with that? It is nature, and we are so lucky to live in a day and age where we can see the progress doctors and researchers are making. To see how far we have come gives me hope that someday there will be a cure!