During a routine exam my doctor found a lump. She asked me to keep an eye on it, but since I frequently had lumps I did not give it a second thought. I had just had a mammogram last year at age 34 and everything looked great. For months I could not find it... then I skipped a couple of months. When I checked again there it was; now it was easy to find and hard.
I called my doctor and the next day I was getting a mammogram. I knew something was wrong right away when they wanted more pictures. Then this man came and started to explain that I would need a biopsy. I just kept repeating to my self, 80% come back negative. Of course I was one of the 20%.
 The next day I met with a surgeon, two days later I was on the table having a lumpectomy. It was cancer, small but it was there. Stage 1, only 1 cm with a micro invasion.
They recommended radiation therapy and a course of pills, but then I started asking about recurrence. My chances were so high that my husband and I decided to go the most aggressive route.
 I had a Bilateral mastectomy and ovary removal on July 16th 2002.
 I was a candidate for reconstruction and my final surgery will be in November of 2002.
A routine self breast exam saved my life. The quick action that my doctor took by getting me right in for treatment made it so I did not need chemotherapy. I have two girls ages 3 and 5, I wanted to make sure I was around to see them grow up. My husband, my kids, family and friends have shown me how much I am loved through all of this. My doctors have been awesome and hopefully I will be a success story. I was lucky enough to have a doctor that saw my family history and realized I needed routine exams much earlier then age 40.
Kimberly Clark
New Hampshire