How To Make Life Easier For All Who Suffer From Breast Cancer

By Terry Weber

I am personally aware of how hard it was to see, Ann, one of my daughters,
struggle with the pain of the treatments for her breast cancer. After
many long months in the hospital, Ann, in 1995, was relieved of all
of her pain as she left us and went to be with the Lord. Her parents,
her husband her brothers and sisters, her two children, her friends,
her many young autistic students - - all of us, still miss Ann very
much.

But, today, because of the many improvements in breast cancer prevention
and care, thousands of lives are being both helped and saved worldwide,
every year. In this way, other families are spared the heartache our
family has experienced with our loss of Ann. But, much more research
needs to be done and research, as you know, costs lots of money.

If you know anyone with breast cancer, you have first hand knowledge
of the pain, the upset and the struggle that must be endured with today's
ways of treating this kind of cancer.

Back in '95 I'd have given anything and paid any price to simply reduce
Ann's agonizing pain. One of the aims of breast cancer research is
to find better ways to diagnose and treat those with breast cancer.
So far, there is no sure cure, but there are lots of newly discovered
and less painful treatments available. These have been discovered by
intensive research and then put into practice. In this way the suffering
of breast cancer patients is much less in many ways.

Ann’s husband has this to say about his wife:

“Ann was diagnosed via a mammogram in October 1993 shortly after
we got home from our year in Israel. By the time she was diagnosed
her cancer was stage 4 metastasis and had spread to her hips and liver.
She had a mastectomy and then radiation and chemotherapy. In June of
1994 she had massive chemo with stem cell transplant at the University
of Pennsylvania. In fact, she had her stem cell infusion on July 5.
I well remember how we watched the July 4th fireworks from a hospital
room overlooking the Delaware River. She seemed to do a bit better
for a while after that.

In June of 1995 I was invited to a conference in Cambridge England.
Ann went with me and we spent some time in London. We took a wheelchair
with us because she could not walk for any long period of time. By
the end of the trip she was not feeling well and when we got home we
immediately called her oncologist. She entered the hospital the next
day. The cancer had reinvigorated and had spread pretty widely. She
was in St. Luke's until she died in August. There are a lot of things
that she endured. I had to give her injections every day for almost
a month before her stem cell procedure. I don't remember how many major
and minor surgeries— mastectomy, catheter placement, catheter
removal, etc. She spent over three months in the hospital during her
treatment. She endured it all with grace and courage. She mostly worried
about the kids and me. She was a remarkable person and I miss her very
much.”

Before her marriage Ann, who was 43, had been an excellent, and dedicated
teacher of autistic children. Those who worked with Ann and the children
were often filled with astonishment and praise for the way Ann so lovingly
cared for “her kids.” She treated each one as a special
person and did her very best to comfort, teach and help them in every
way.

Even after her marriage, she and her husband often invited the children
to spend a weekend with them in their home. In this way Ann tried to
help the children’s parents so they could have a couple of day’s
relief from the constant care that autistic children always require.

So, if you would like to donate some of your money toward breast cancer
research, here is an easy way to do it: order one or more of my useful,
comfortable and very special PINK SLEEP MASKS. I guarantee and promise
you that 25% of the money you send for this special sleep mask will
be given directly to one or more of the Breast Cancer Research Foundations
for you and we all thank you for your help.

Terry L. Weber