The first time I laid eyes on this shirt it was truly love at first sight. I had been saying these words since 2003. How could I not feel this way about cancer? After all, it was cancer that violently came in like a thief in the night, played hide & seek within the lungs of my great-grandmother, and then thought it would be fun to travel up to her brain and destroy it. It tried to play that game with my grandmother years ago, but she kicked it square in its ass and sent it flying. It was cancer that stared back at me as I stared at my dad's body laying up on that slab in the funeral home. It is cancer that threatens to put my grandfather in that same place. And it is that same damn cancer that causes anxiety to run rapid throughout my body. The kind of anxiety that wastes no time telling me that my future daughter will never exist because cancer will devour my ovaries or that I can get rid of all of my bras because I will awake one morning and my breasts will be gone.

All of these reasons are why I gave the guy wearing this shirt my email address to pass on to the girl who made it. Because for once I wanted to be able to look cancer eye to eye, in all of its different forms, and exclaim that it would NOT get me too. I would NOT be its victim. It would NOT take me away from my daughter as it took my second mother and dad away from me. For all of these reasons I waited and waited for the email that would reveal the time and place that I could expect to get my very own cancer shield. Yes, for these reasons and many more I will proudly and boldly stand up to cancer with these fighting words stamped across my DDs. Whose with me??

October is the national Breast Cancer Awareness month and I am hoping that every woman is aware of her own breast health. It is so important that we stay on top of this because no woman is exempt from developing breast cancer and apparently that does not exclude age. I know that if you are a youngster like me, and you have no family history of breast cancer your doctor will tell you that annual breast exams and self breast exams are enough. No mammogram is needed. Well, there are actually some women who have been diagnosed in their 20's with breast cancer and of course, like other illnesses, black woman are at higher risk. Bottom line, you have to be aware and stay aware because you never know, and you definitely will never know if you are not on top of things. Got that? So round up the posse of women that you love and scurry out to get your breast exams. Go on... GET!