#IAmTheFaceOfBreastReconstruction
#IAmTheFaceOfBreastReconstruction. October 21, 2015 is Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day 2015 in the United States. I have been an advocate and educator for all choices of Breast Reconstruction for just over a year since being diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in April of 2014. I knew I was going to be faced with a double mastectomy, but, I was informed, I was educated the day I was told I had to have a mastectomy. I was told about my options for breast reconstruction by my breast surgeon.
I was fortunate. This year I learned that many women are not given that information and are not as fortunate. They are not given a referral to a plastic surgeon at the time of diagnosis. But, I also found a community of women who work tirelessly to educate and inform others about what they have gone through, what choices they have made, and what lead them to their decision and subsequent procedure of reconstruction.
These are women who were diagnosed with breast cancer or women who tested positive for the BRCA gene and in both cases, made the choice for breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. They may have had autologous flap surgery like myself and became their own tissue donor. They may have chosen implants to rebuild their breasts. Their reconstruction may have been a combination of both.
We did not choose to write this chapter in our lives. It was written for us. But, we became the voices of choice. We became the faces of women who have had Breast Reconstruction throughout the globe.
I am reaching out to these voices. Let’s show our strength and through our Social Media platform, let us show other women who may not know about their options that we are who they are. We are women of strength, wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, educators, advocates, nurses, surgeons, teachers, singers, dancers and friends. We are the faces of Breast Reconstruction.
Posts your own personal picture on Twitter and use the hash tag #IAmTheFaceOfBreastReconstruction. Tag @BreastRecon_USA, @BradayMex, @BraDayAustralia, @BRAwareness or the country you are tweeting from. Use a photo that shows your face, a smile, and a special moment showing that you are a woman of strength and have made a choice after being informed and educated. Faces only please.
Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day 2015 is a good day to start this movement and to raise awareness throughout Social Media to let others know there are options. There are choices to rebuild your life and move beyond the fear and the diagnosis.
#IAmTheFaceOfBreastReconstruction