In response to your article about the breast-cancer fight of local women and their heroic three-day walk, I wanted to congratulate them and let your healthy readers know that losing a breast is a very small price to pay for the gift of being alive for your children and your loved ones.

Whenever I read an article about breast cancer there is always the mention of “the horror of losing a breast”… how profound it is, how horrifying and tragic. For me it was all of that … for a few days, and then the fight of your life begins and your breasts become the least of your concerns.

What you really discover is that the financial crisis of illness, the inability to care for your home and children while undergoing chemo, the overwhelming struggle to advocate for your own health care, and the challenge of keeping a job and some semblance of order in your day to day life … those are profound ideas.

We don’t need our breasts. They matter a lot less than we can imagine. We can get new ones, often better than the ones we had. What matters is that we raise the awareness of this possibly preventable cancer, learn to protect ourselves with diligent routine care, and honor our sisters who have lost their lives to this dreaded cancer that comes out of nowhere and changes your life forever.

Nancy Werner

Bothell