My name is Renee Chabert Crasto and at the age of 29, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Up until this point in my life I have been a lot of things - a daughter, a wife, a mother, a student, an attorney, a friend. I was not really looking to add any other titles to my resume, especially not cancer patient. But God, as he often does, had other plans. As of July 29, 2013, I added cancer patient to my list of attributes.
I decided to start this blog for several reasons. First, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I would search for hours and hours on the internet looking for stories of survival of young people like me who were battling cancer. I am determined that my story will be a survival story so I want to share it. Second, writing has always been healing for me, so hopefully writing my story, putting it on paper, and encouraging others to take their health seriously and listen to their bodies will help me to heal. Last, like other things, time has a way of making you forget things. I want to remember my story. I want to remember the details. I want a reminder of what I have been through and what I am going through to remind me of how far I have come.
Even though some people may look at my diagnoses of cancer and my age and think that I am unlucky; I truly believe I am one of the luckiest people alive. I have a wonderful husband who has stood by me throughout this cancer ordeal (and he had lots of reasons not to - more on that later maybe). I really never knew how much he loved me until cancer. I have the most beautiful smartest three year old in the whole world. She makes life worth living. She made my decision to fight cancer with everything I have an easy one. I have wonderful parents, family, in-laws and friends who wouldn't let me give up this battle even if I tried. So yes, cancer at 29 sucks BUT I am still blessed in most ways.
I am going to try to go back to the beginning and retell my story from the start throughout this blog. However, my story does not really start in July 2013. So there may be points when the story gets choppy and out of place, I will do my best to make sense of it.
Unfortunately, I was no stranger to cancer before 2013. I have watched my mother battle cancer twice. I am happy to say that she is a strong woman and cancer never stood a chance with her and she is a survivor. I think in the back of my mind, I knew that there was always a strong possibility that I would someday get breast cancer - I have a strong family history of it on both sides - I just never expected it at 29.
So my story begins....
No comments:
Post a Comment