As you may know October is Breast Cancer awareness month, but Good Enough Mother is here to tell you that breast cancer never takes a break. That’s why when I stopped by the News 19 newsroom on my swing through Columbia, SC, I talked with super anchor (that’s what I call her) Darci Strickland about my own history with the disease.

A quick recap; I am the daughter of two breast cancer survivors. My mother was diagnosed post-menopausal at age 64 and my father was diagnosed when I was a young girl. When you tell people your father had breast cancer they’re always shocked because they assume men cannot get it. They can and they do. There are about 1,900 cases diagnosed in men every year.

In late 2003 I was diagnosed with a condition called Hyperplasia Atypia, which in some circles, is seen as the stage right before breast cancer. I was already at high risk due to my family history and multiple biopsies so in 2007, I opted for a preventive mastectomy.

I am fine and have not had one single regret at making the difficult decision.  You can read more about how I handled losing my job two weeks before losing my breasts in my book, Good Enough Mother, The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting. Be safe everyone – and take care of yourselves…