My hero, Mercedes

A true survivor's perspective on the suggested new guidelines for mammograms and self-exams

Earlier this week, I Tweeted a response to the guidelines for breast cancer screening issued by a federal task force that contradict what women have been told in recent years. It links to the LIVESTRONG page on facebook.

RT @LIVESTRONG: LIVESTRONG's official response to the new guidelines for breast cancer screening. http://bit.ly/1x2tPw

I'm sharing my sister's response below, to illustrate how absurd these "recommendations" truly are. Mercedes speaks from her personal experience with breast cancer. She is living proof that self-exams and mammograms are essential for women of all ages.

My sister's story will tell you exactly why this is so important. Here's what Mercedes wrote:

The next time your male doctor tells you not to worry about a lump or calcification in your mammogram test results, ask him what he would do if he found the same thing in his scrotum.

Don't be shy . . . he's familiar with the word and he might just take your results a bit more seriously.

My doctor told me not to worry for three years. I had to demand another mammogram with ultrasound because at that point my breast was hot, swollen and the nipple was starting to invert. The lump that I had followed had progressed to grape size yet HE couldn't feel it! So much for letting doctors examine you.

After a modified radical mastectomy, chemo, bone marrow and stem cell transplant and radiation, I am still on the planet and have been cancer-free since 1994. The Adriamycin left me with cardiomyopathy and I have lymphedema in my arm but I am still here and glad to be!

If they had removed the lump initially it would have been contained in the milk duct and I wouldn't have had to go through all the other medical procedures.

Keep doing your self exams! Mammograms are only 80 percent effective. Imagine what the world would be like if the BEST birth control was only 80 percent effective!!!!!!!!

I really can't add any more to that, except to say that my sister Mercedes Cosgrove is my personal hero. She fought a great battle against terrible odds and is a real Survivor.

So please, ladies, don't take any chances with your health. Take the responsibility to keep doing your self-exams and insist on regular mammograms. And gents, please do regular breast and testicular exams, too. It could be a matter of life and death.

I love you, sis. Thanks for fighting so very hard. I'm glad you're still here.

--Dino