My friend Lu

Oh Steve I am so very sorry to read about Lu..

Steve,

Steve, Lu's family and friends,

I'm sorry about your friend Steve. I hate this disease ... I'll be praying for Lu and her family.

Un abrazote,

Natalia

Steve,

I am so sorry for your loss. I do understand. My beautiful sister, Linda died 4 weeks ago from TNBC. I never heard of this foundation before this morning. When Linda was diagnosed over two years ago with triple negative breast cancer, we thought the treatment she received would cure her. She had both chemo and radiation treatments. She had very bad side-effects from her first round of chemo and was in the hospital for 6 weeks dealing with a bowel obstruction that may or may not have been caused by the chemo. So, the next 5 treatments were postponed for two months while she recovered from abdominal surgery. She completed her chemo treatment in August 2010 and we celebrated with a Jimmy Buffet party. She loved Jimmy Buffet! Then in August 2011 she was diagnosed again with more cancer in her lymph nodes. The oncologist did not feel that she should or should not have more chemo as he said he only treats 1 or 2 patients a year that had her kind of cancer. She opted not to have more chemo, but did have more radiation treatments. She had a clear mammogram in late 2011 and petscan. She had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and things went well until after President's Day weekend. She started to feel really sick and couldn't breathe. She was admitted into the local hospital where it took 10 days to diagnose that she had cancer in her lungs and possibly in her liver. She went back and forth to the hospital over a four week period of time and hospice was called in on Thursday morning, March 29th and she died that afternoon. It has been very difficult to say the least. My brother-in-law is heart sick and misses her so much, as we all do. She has left a whole in our lives. I am here if you need to share your thoughts or feelings about Lu.

Steve,
Thank you for your kind words. As you know, very few people truly understand the anguish of losing someone to this awful disease. Breast cancer was an awful enough diagnosis. But, this TNBC that doesn't respond to traditional therapies is just the worst. My BIL is having such guilt over not doing more for her. My brothers and I begged him to take her to a hospital like Univ. of Penn, of Jefferson or Fox Chase Cancer Treatment, but he insisted on keeping her at their local hospital. They poked, prodded, operated, and drugged her those last four weeks. We were never told how sick she really was. We all believed she would get better. I did the 60 mile Susan G. Komen walk in 2009 and 2010 in Linda's honor. Raised $5000. I feel angry that all the billions of dollars that have been raised to find a cure, and still so many die. I don't understand.
I decided to contact the adoption agency my sister worked at for six years and ask if we can have a Memorial Award in her name be given to an adopted or orphan child from their agency each year who has done something extra special. They have agreed to have this award given in Linda's memory. I feel like I need to do something positive, to help deal with something so awful.
I am so sorry for your pain and loss. Please write again.
~Beverly

Dear Beverly,