THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS IMAGES OF A ‘MASTECTOMY’ AND IMAGES OF A ‘BREAST- RECONSTRUCTION’ - IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE EXPOSED TO THESE PICTURES, PLEASE EXIT THIS WEB SITE!

..."Every 14 minutes a woman dies from breast cancer 2,  one out of eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every 3 minutes 2 and over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year 1.” Approximately one third of women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer experience a recurrence (breast cancer coming back). Over half of these occur more than five years after surgery” 5.6. 

Women have a difficult time coping with the loss of their breasts, because wherever you look, you see “Boobs” which apparently makes you a woman - according to SOCIETY. Most women grieve a minimum of a year following the loss of either one or both of their breast(s).

 

I am a “whole” woman, even though I currently only have one breast. I feel good about myself; it took me a while but I became comfortable with the new “Me” and adapted to my altered self-image.  I am happy for every day that I have, and live it to the fullest (or at least I try to).  I now understand the cliche’ “Beauty comes from within”, it couldn’t be more clear to me.

 

After 2 years and 3 months, I have decided to undergo another mastectomy to decrease the risk of recurrence of breast cancer to less than 5% (I am estrogen receptor-positive).  I have also decided to have reconstructive surgery at the same time. I have adapted to my body with one breast, however I am now ready to lower my risks by removing the remaining breast and made the personal choice to have two breasts again.  I will document the entire process.

 

My name is Ilka, and my dream is to help women by giving them inspiration and hope.  When they see the images of me on this site; my hope is that they can be proud of who they are and be able to look in the mirror and still love themselves the same way they did before Breast Cancer and a mastectomy.

 

Remember, you are still the beautiful ‘YOU’ – no matter what!

1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2006. http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2006PWSecured.pdf. Accessed August 15th, 2007. Page 4, Table 1.

 

2. Breast Health Resource Guide. Avon Foundation. http://www.avoncompany.com/women/avoncrusade/bccguide.pdf. Accessed August 15th, 2007. Pages 3-5

5. Early Breast Cancer Collaborative Group. Tamoxifen for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomized trials. Lancet. 1998.

6. Goss PE, Ingle JN, Martino S, et.al. Updated Analysis of the NCIC CTG MA 17 randomized placebo (P) controlled trial of letrozole (L) after 5 years of tamoxifen therapy in postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer [abstract]. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol. 2004.