Permanently Beautiful

Most of us have a family member or close friend who has had or who is now struggling against breast cancer. For women, the fight against breast cancer is a universal experience, the struggle that binds us to each other, the cause that brings us together. Breast cancer doesn’t distinguish rich from poor, CEO from sales clerk, professional woman from hotel maid, Hollywood celebrity from small town soccer mom. For women, breast cancer is the great equalizer and the fight against it, a common bond.

If you are close to someone who has fought against breast cancer, you understand the difficulty and intensity of the struggle. You’ve held her hand and cried with her. You’ve kept her company in cold, drafty hospital rooms. You’ve watched her children when the nausea from chemotherapy made her ill. You’ve delivered endless casseroles when she was too exhausted to cook. You may have shaved your head in solidarity or grown your locks for donation to Locks of Love. You’ve walked and cycled countless miles to raise funds for cancer research. Most of all, you’ve been there when your friend needed you most. If you are fortunate, you’ve helped your friend survive for we are slowly, at long last, winning the fight against breast cancer.

But even after the fight is won, the struggle to adjust to the loss of a breast from mastectomy can be a difficult hurdle, one more agonizing battle in the fight against breast cancer.

Thursday: How Permanent Makeup can help your loved one fight the final battle in breast cancer recovery.