The Story Behind My One-Boobed Mamma
My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in January 2000; my sister, with stage 2 breast cancer, in August 2003. They have both beautifully survived and are still zestily living their lives today. Both had mastectomy but neither opted for chemotherapy.
My mother simply insisted that if she just had 6 months to live anyway, she would die with her hair and makeup on. Now, seven years later, the doctor who diagnosed her is dead, while she is still beautifully alive!
My sister took to alternative healing paths through diet and lifestyle change and is actually looking slimmer now, aside from being healthier than ever, with all test results looking good.
I also have two best friends and mentors, more than a decade older than I, who were diagnosed with breast cancer at around this time. Like my mom and sister, you would never know they had it just by looking at them, because of their positive spirit and attitude and this glow they had around them.
Both had mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy. They wore beautiful scarves, though, with matching clothes and shoes, and everyone envied them for how fabulous they looked!
Another friend of mine who was diagnosed with breast cancer, had mastectomy, and also had marriage problems soon after with her husband having affairs here and there. One day, she confided to me how she felt very hurt by what her then nine-year-old daughter told her, “It’s your fault that Dad went away. You’re less of a woman now because of your cancer!!!”
That shocked us both and I felt my friend’s pain, of course.
As a writer, what further intrigued me was how the daughter got the idea into her head, about what it means to be a real woman. I reflected long and hard on that.
This, plus the experiences I’ve had with my mother and sister and two wonderful best friends, inspired “My One-Boobed Mamma”
I wanted to show through the story, not just how breast cancer-stricken families cope, but more so, what it means to be a real woman, in the deepest and highest sense of the word.
