You Go, Sally Jo!

I read the best blog today. Sally Jo's sister sent me the link to "The Phoenix Report".

Sally Jo has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will be undergoing surgery today. Sending healing energy her way.

Something she said reminded of one of the things I hate most about this disease and that is this self-blame kind of thing that I hear. I should've ... lost weight....worked out more...handled stress differently...gotten mammograms sooner...stopped smoking earlier.

Word up, ladies and gents. The medical community DOES NOT KNOW WHAT CAUSES BREAST CANCER. It's that simple. They just don't know.

They have observed that there are more overweight persons with breast cancer than normal weight persons. But normal weight persons get breast cancer, too.

Breast cancer patients seem to lead stressful lives. There are millions of people who lead stressful lives and do not get breast cancer. There are plenty of non-stressed out types who get breast cancer, too.

Sally Jo's sister and mom both had breast cancer so, yeah, her odds were higher but that is genetics and you can't fight that. I, on the other hand, had no family history of breast cancer and got it anyway.

It's not your fault. There is no guarantee that if you eat right, exercise, don't smoke, etc. (take Christina Applegate, for instance) you won't get breast cancer. Your quality of life will jump exponentially, for sure, and for that alone I recommend it. But don't kid yourself into believing that it will prevent breast cancer.

I repeat: no one yet knows what causes breast cancer.

It is not your fault.

Rock on.