Suzanne Laplante

In November 2006, I was diagnosed with Stage 2, Triple Negative breast cancer. It was aggressive and my lumpectomy did not show clear margins. But I was lymph node free. I knew mastectomies were in my future. I had a 40% chance of getting breast cancer in the "healthy" breast. I started dense dose chemo in Jan 07 and the weekly hits went on for 6 months. I lost all my hair, felt exhausted and I kept going somehow. I bought 2 wigs. At the end of the 6 months, I then underwent double mastectomies and Diep Flap Reconstruction. The surgery was 14 hours long. The recuperation was tough. I had drains, incisions, I was weak from all that chemo. Today I am doing well. It will be

8 years next month, November 2014. My husband, Stuart, was my rock and 6 years later he passed away from glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer. He was 57. Cancer hit us both - hard. Today I am re-married and know how to put things in perspective. The only thing that matters is to have good health. The rest is

trivial in comparison.