The lead up.......

The lead up........I had pain in my left breast for over 3 months when I met my "Guardian Messenger" on August 20, 2012. The pain was like a bruise or nagging pain that didn't throb but hurt when you would rub against it or touch it directly. It was on the side of my breast, sort of where your arm lies up against your breast....ladies you would have a better understanding of this.

So, of course, I ignored it because I was always under the impression, having been told before by different reliable sources, that breast cancer does not cause pain. Oh, it might have also been the fact that I have four kids and it was summer break and you know ....I wasn`t pre-occupied AT ALL!

So what happened next is in the letter following:

Dear Friends,

Bonnie Pollard is not a close friend or relative, she is my “Guardian Messenger.” 

On a hot summer day in August of this year (2012) I met Bonnie through a friend that I have known for many years.  My friend and I were at the beach with our kids, just like we have been doing for the last almost 10 years.  This day was different, my friend said that “Bonnie” was going to be dropping off her child because she needed someone to watch her.  This was not someone I had ever met before, nor heard about from my friend.  So we carried on and the kids kept playing and we waited for Bonnie. 

Bonnie showed up and there happened to be another mutual connection there, a mom from their kids school.  She was completely aghast “Bonnie, your hair looks great!!” she screeched. Little did she know, after countless questions about Bonnie’s new coif, that Bonnie would then get down on her knees in front of us and tell us she had breast cancer.  My friend already knew, this is why she was going to be watching Bonnie’s daughter, the other two of us were in stunned silence.  So there she knelt telling us her unbelievable story of her breast cancer battle.  She was intimate and told us all the details, answered every question we had, she was so open and free with her story.  I left the beach that day, not being able to stop thinking about her and her beautiful little children and husband.  Oh my goodness......what a terrifying reality she was facing.

Little did Bonnie know, what I took away from her telling her story that day, was to immediately go home and make a doctor’s appointment.  You see, I had been having pain in my left breast for about 3 months and had just been sloughing it off as hormones, I needed a new bra, you know whatever.  It was Bonnie telling me that she had pain that triggered me to make the call.

So what now......here I sit 3 weeks post surgery for a partial mastectomy on my left breast. As it turns out, that pain I was having, the one I was sloughing off, it was a tiny lump growing in my breast. 

I was lucky, I had this beautiful gift who stood before me that summer’s day and told her story with such liberty and free will, not even knowing what an impact it would have.

 

I can never thank her enough.

Written by Carla Vidal