2008 Woodie Awards
Mothers Know Best
Growing up as a child I watched my mother battle breast cancer twice. Now, as a young adult, I have developed my own concerns in regards to having a family history of the disease.
Amanda Held
Issue date: 2/2/06 Section: News
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She was in the kitchen preparing dinner for her husband and two kids when she was suddenly interrupted. It was a phone call.
It was her doctor. Three days earlier, Rhona had made a special visit to her doctor. She had felt a tiny lump in her left breast and wanted to get it checked out.
Now, the results were in. Tension seethed from the receiver. "Do you want the news over the phone or do you want to wait and come in?" the doctor asked. Three days had been long enough. She needed to know now.
"I tried to prepare myself", she recalls but she soon learned that nothing could prepare her for what she was about to hear. "The results are positive" the doctor said, "You have cancer."
Rhona Held is my mother. I was five-years-old at the time, and she told me about this devastating phone call years later. She says that she was stunned by the news but the doctor immediately assured her that "this was not a death sentence" and she was right.
Shortly after hearing the news, my mother underwent a series of treatments and recovery. The cancer seemed to be in remission. The treatments seemed to have worked.
Four years later, our family was planning their first trip to Disney World, a dream come true for a 9-year-old like me. But a few weeks before the big day, my mother gathered my sister and I together and sat us down for a talk.
Her words were hard to grasp. "Mommy is sick," she explained "We won't be going to Disney World."
My mother's cancer had returned. "I really thought it was gone," she recalls but she was wrong. At such a young age, I was unable to comprehend what my mother's diagnosis meant. My focus was on Disney World.
But 10 years later, and now a young woman myself, my focus has shifted towards my health.
Having a family history of breast cancer is a major risk factor for women. Having both a mother and a grandmother who have had the disease, means my chances are greater for developing it myself. This concerns me.
It is not an everyday worry or something that I agonize over but it is always in the back of my mind. Especially now, as a young woman it has become more of a growing concern.