As a female motorcyclist, I do care about causes that promote women’s health. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It was in October, 2003 that I went for a routine mammogram and discovered that I had breast cancer. By getting regular yearly mammograms and self exams, my cancer was detected in the very early stages.
I went through a surgery, and 7 weeks of daily radiation treatments. It sapped my strength but I was still required to do my full-time job during all of this. The outcome was that I was glad to be alive, and decided waste no time doing all of the things that I had ever wanted to do.
One of these was to ride and own a motorcycle. I wasted no time once my health was back, and signed up for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner’s course. My husband did the same, as he was encouraged to ride too.
We took the course, passed, and immediately started looking for motorcycles so that we could continue to practice our new favorite pastime. We both got bikes and have been joyfully riding ever since.
The mammograms haven’t all been good since the original one, but have shown minor changes that required further surgical biopsies. So far, so good. It hasn’t kept me from riding and I have this drive to go farther and faster while I can. Motorcycling has become my favorite thing to do and think about.
I encourage all females over 35 to get regular mammograms and do frequent self-exams. The Breast Cancer Site gives free mammograms to women who can’t afford them. Go there and see how you can help by clicking daily on the site. Early detection is the key to saving women’s lives.
Don’t wait until you have a life threatening disease to do those things you secretly want to. Just do it now!
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