martina1.jpgThe news today that tennis legend Martina Navratilova has been diagnosed with breast cancer was something of a roller coaster.  First there was the “No!” feeling we get whenever someone we admire is stricken with an illness.  Learning that an athlete we admire has been diagnosed feels somehow even harder.  As she told People magazine, “I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and
it’s completely out of my hands.”

But then, something of a rescue–the “aah” of learning that Navratilova’s cancer–called DCIS–is non-invasive and highly treatable.  “There’s only a one-percent chance of anyone with this diagnosis would
die of breast cancer,” physician Shelley Hwang told the media.

Finally, the reminder to all of us.  Navratilova, 53, said that she had gone 4 years since her last mammogram, a decision she says she now regrets:  “Everyone gets busy, but don’t make excuses. I stay in shape and eat
right, and it happened to me. Another year and I could have been in big
trouble.”

Here’s some of our breast cancer resources:

5 Lessons Breast Cancer Doesn’t Teach, and One It Does

Talk About It in Our Cancer Support Forum

Healing Quotes for Breast Cancer

Wise Words from Cancer Survivors

(image via: http://sportige.com/)

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