So, here is my entry for `JunkbyJen's Think Pink II Contest. Sadly, due to moving house I was not able to get my digital piece finished in time, which featured the fairies so loved by my daughter, and which I was going to call the 'booby fairies'.

The first time I became aware of breast cancer was when the mother of a boy in my class was diagnosed. I remember well her recovering at home (we lived in the same street), and no one would tell me why she was so ill. When I asked her what was wrong with her she told me I was 'too young' to know (I was about 11 I think). So, I left it at that. My mother tells me how well she remembers Irene (that was her name) telling my Mother at a Parents Evening at my school that she had found a lump in her breast and was going to the Doctors the next day. She recovered from the operation, though sadly the cancer appeared elswhere in her body and she did not survive for many more years.

The secrecy and air of doom that surrounded Irene's illness has stayed with me to this day, despite knowing other women who having been diagnosed making full recoveries. The attitude surrounding Irene's illness was very typical of the times (early seventies). Breast cancer was pretty much viewed as a death sentence then and a taboo subject. Even now, the subject strikes a chill in my heart and is my biggest fear. I know I need not feel this way as recovery rates are so good. But, the experience of my childhood left it's mark. If that event taught me anything, it's to be honest with ones children. I think I was old enough to understand. Had my parents explained to me exactly what had happened to Irene, and had I understood what was going on, I think I would not have grown up with such a terrible fear of this disease. Honesty, truth, courage and awareness are crucial.