When I was approached to pen an essay for Latina's October issue about my journey with breast cancer, I said yes, but also felt nervous about taking on the assignment. I'd covered breast cancer awareness and survivors' stories for the same magazine in the past so it was a bit surreal that I had now become the subject of a topic I'd written about so many times before. I wasn't sure how I felt about shining the spotlight on myself after knowing how many others had fought before and are still fighting now. What happened to my initial refusal to become a banner woman for this disease? I accepted anyway. More good will come from sharing and giving of oneself than from withholding every bit of you - even the not so pretty parts.
My life is a fairly open book, which is evident through this blog, and I function under the hope that my thoughts and stories somehow inspire someone else walking down a similar path. So maybe my personal essay will bring a little bit of kickass positivity and hope to another trudging through the dark days because as I write in those pages, "You will eventually smile again and focus on your goals, and life just keeps moving on."