I know that Heather Barnard and I share a lot in common!
- We are both educators.
- Breast cancer has affected Heather and me.
- Heather and I have had a mastectomy.
- Heather and I had breast reconstruction.
- We both write blogs about our breast reconstruction experience.
- Finally, and most coincidentally, we had the same plastic surgeon perform our breast reconstruction.
What makes our friendship unique? We have never met in person. Heather and I live over 9,000 miles apart. Our shared commonalities, however, have bridged those miles and made us friends. Her Twitter handle says it all, @expattravelmom. She teaches in Singapore and in her off time travels extensively with her husband and three great children.
I had my DIEP flap breast reconstruction in December of 2014. Heather had a prophylactic mastectomy with immediate implant breast reconstruction in June of 2015. Dr. Chrysopoulo was our connection. Heather would message me asking about the surgical process. We’d share our stories of recovery from our individual surgeries through our on-line messaging. Some of our messages were filled with laughter. Sometimes I would shore her up with support as she struggled through her days of healing.
I knew Heather was a fighter, had wonderful family support, and had prepared herself well for her surgery. What makes us unique in our Journeys, Heather is BRCA positive. She chose to have a prophylactic mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction. This choice, as difficult as it was, greatly reduced her chances of getting breast cancer.
As a mother of three children who watched her own Mother go through breast cancer, Heather knew this was the right decision. We both did our homework and chose one of the finest plastic surgeons in the country to perform our breast reconstruction.
Heather used her experience to educate others. She has written two books for children on the topic of breast cancer and breast reconstruction through the eyes of a child. We follow each other on Twitter and still chat when we have time. Recently, on Twitter, Heather had a wonderful opportunity for me to receive and read her books. In honor of Mother’s Day, she gave away three sets of her books.
I jumped on board her offer and was delighted to get them in the mail. I promised her I would pay it forward and share the books with my community and write a blog about our friendship.
Heather, it is an honor to know you. Thank you for bringing awareness to the breast cancer and BRCA community through your advocacy and story. Your books are beautifully written and will do much good!
As for our connection to Dr. C, I suppose these photos speak a thousand words!
