Tattoos and TaTas (Chocoholics #2.5) (14 page)

• There are nearly three million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.
   
  
• One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.
   
  
• Early detection and effective treatment have resulted in a 34 percent decline in breast cancer in the U.S. since 1990.
   
  
• Worldwide, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in women.
   
  
• Every 19 seconds, somewhere in the world, a case of breast cancer is diagnosed in a woman.
   
  
• Every minute, somewhere in the world, someone dies from breast cancer.
   
  
• Breast cancer knows no boundaries—be it age, gender, socio-economic status or geographic location.
  

*Information courtesy of Susan G. Komen

http://ww5.komen.org/

My deepest gratitude goes to Claire Contreras. You are the strongest, most beautiful person inside and out and I love you! Thank you so much for sharing your journey with me and making sure I got all the facts straight.

To Donna and Nikki—thank you for lighting a fire under my ass and making sure I did this. I promise I won’t call you whores anymore. Well, I’ll still call Donna a whore, sorry.

For Stephanie Johnson for always being on board whenever I say, “So, you want to read something?” Thank you for supporting me and for being a wonderful friend, my beautiful Cookie Whore.

To Nikole Lasky, my sister from another mister. Thank you for your help in remembering all the stupid shit we did when Nana was sick. It’s tough getting old. Thank you for being my partner in crime and helping me almost get kicked out of entirely too many hospitals for our loud, inappropriate behavior. The next time I blow the sugar from a packet, I’ll make sure to remove my hospital mask so I don’t look like an asshole and embarrass you.

For Mom, Grandma, Jill, Ellen and Aunt Kathy. Fighters and survivors and the strongest women I was ever blessed to be related to.

Last, but not least, for my best friend, MY person—Buffy. This story would not have been possible without you because I never would have known what it was like to have a true friend, my other half, someone who
gets
me so completely, if I’d never met you. There would be no Claire and Liz without you because we ARE Claire and Liz. I am here, always and forever, all you have to do is call. Sometimes I’ll be a bitch, and sometimes you’ll be an asshole, but we will always cut someone’s mother for each other and that’s how it should be. I am lucky to have been given two soul mates in my life, and even luckier that you are one of them. I love you, asshole.