[karilann]

I want to pass along a story that has been on going in my life for about 5 years now.
I used to work with a young girl who very well could have been my daughter (ok, granted I would have had to have her at a very young age.)
We hit it off pretty well and even went on a company vacation to San Fransisco together.
When she was about 28, she discovered a lump in her breast. She had it checked out and mammogram was not very good for her due to her dense breast (younger women have denser breast).
Doc told her not to be too concerned because she was so young. Eventually she went back due to the lump getting bigger and they did a biopsy. That test came out negative. Again....no need to worry she is so young.
Long story short she met a guy on a cruise and decided to go be with him in another state. A couple years go by and she gets another opinion about this "obvious" lump in her chest. Now....this doc doesn't like the looks of things. So she decides to go back home and proceed again.
This time they discover its cancer.
So they do a mastectomy on this very young women removing lots of lymph nodes and follow with chemo and radiation. Some time and lots of depression go by.
Last fall she gets up the courage to let doctors poke and prod at her again and gets reconstructive surgery. OH SHE IS FINALLY GETTING HER LIFE BACK! She felt normal again!

This past April they found the cancer has spread to her brain and spine.
They removed tumors from her brain and did radiation...but more tumors came back.
There is not much they can do now. I'd tell you her name but I respect her privacy and if someone googled her name this post would pop up!
So my young friend is going to die because her lump (at such a young age) went unchecked. They gave her a few months.
Please just pray for Karilann's "friend" to go peacefully and without pain.
I guess I wanted to tell my story so that you can all pay more attention.
If some day a similar conversation comes up with someone you know......don't let them brush these kinds of things off. Never let these things go unchecked. After the biopsy, my friend should have insisted they take the lump out and find out exactly what it was. They should have also followed up with ultrasound or SOMETHING every 6 months to monitor change. Don't let this happen to anyone you know.