Mary Ellen Presta, 51 Born: Detroit, Michigan You move towards your dominant thought...So make it a good one! I chose to use my apron to depict my story of attitude during my journey through breast cancerland. My support group felt I was in denial and called me a Pollyanna, but I always felt that after all the recommended treatment--surgery, radiation, chemo--still no one knew for sure if the cancer would be back. So why not have the attitude it was gone rather than be miserable thinking I was going to die of breast cancer? Accentuate the Positive/the Power of Positive Thinking/pictures of the special people in my life today whom I never would have met had I not had cancer...Sue, with her arms outstretched, and I had a mutual friend who never introduced us until we both had lumpectomies a day apart. Crazy Bill, my special love was introduced to me by Sue. Mae and Dianne are two of the very special women in the Stanford Hospital support group, symbolized by the sunflower. Fan - I am positively Hot! Chemo put me into menopause and I am still having hot flashes. I am never without a fan. I brought this fan to our support group meetings for all of us to share whenever the power surged. Notebook - where I wrote questions for the doctors and inspirational thoughts to help me through the process. Cream of Wheat - sometimes, during chemo, all I wanted to eat was "white food" -- comfort food; cream of wheat, mashed potatoes, etc. Before - New Years Eve 1993. The last period I ever had. I don’t usually do a self-exam, but figured I would start the year out right. So at the end of this cycle I checked my breasts and found the lump, small and so far to the edge of the breast that it was undetected on the previous mamo. After - 8/17/94. My LAST CMF pill!!! Picture of me with Karen, who was with me from my first doctor visit, surgery, every chemo treatment all the way through to the last pill. Turtles - double meaning here...long life and my daughter, Petra, also pictured at 8th grade graduation. Oh, and those spots all over the place are fallout from my brain-cells, especially memory cells, that keep dying on me.
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