Young Duo Show They CARE

In August of 2010, I had launched my wholesale artisanal soap company: Utopia Bath, Ltd, at the New York International Gift Show.

Two weeks later I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and the news kept spiraling out of control. The news was increasingly surreal. After all, I was a woman, with no history of ANY cancer […]

When I met Susan Kapadia for the first time beginning 2013 shortly after being diagnosed with phase 4 breast cancer which had spread from breast to Lymph to lungs I felt I was taken by the hand by a caring mother.

Disoriented and dazed and about to move to smaller living spaces she made me feel like I was no longer alone trying to orient myself in an alien world that was about to become mine.

She gently explained some facts, choices, and potential attitudes. Her attitude of hope and personal contribution to herself in her own healing years ago and now to mine in the years to come made it a lot easier to start with this roller coaster ride.

Survivor

Over a period of six years I lost my voice three times. The first time it happened when I got a really bad cold. I couldn’t speak above a whisper. After weeks and weeks of constant laryngitis I went to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. He told me I had nodules on my vocal cords. Speech therapy was recommended. Several hundred dollars later with no noticeable improvement I asked what else could be done? He told me they could be removed but they may come back. I said “I’ll take that chance. I just want to be able to talk again.”

When first diagnosed, the shock had my head spinning. Talk about having your life plans hijacked. I was self-employed, under-insured, living alone, with all my family living on the East Coast. My friends in Ojai were shocked and overwhelmed as well, but lovingly showed up as “family” for me.

I needed a place to hear myself, […]

Dr. Me, a story written by Ann Kim, is part of The Day My Nipple Fell Off and Other Stories of Survival, Solidarity, and Sass: A BAYS Anthology

What breast cancer takes away and what other young women who’ve been there can give you—that’s what the stories here are about: […]