iCarly's Jennette McCurdy Dealing With Death of Mom to Breast Cancer

zondag 22 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Michele Zipp 2 hours ago

The sweet and bubbly Sam from iCarly, Jennette McCurdy, is facing something no child wants to face -- the death of her mother. McCurdy is just 21-years-old, and her mother Debra had been battling breast cancer for 17 years. Though the cancer was in remission for 10 years, in 2010 it returned and spread throughout her body and to her brain.

McCurdy was very close with her mom and was often photographed with her at special events. She was set to appear at Nickelodean’s Worldwide Day of Play in New York City, but had to cancel due to the devastating news. Thankfully McCurdy's has a huge support system including her boyfriend who tweeted about his sadness.

NBA Detroit Pistons’ player Andre Drummond and Jennette's boyfriend wrote: "First time in my life, I don't have the answers for something." And "Rock the sky's. Your a angel!" (sic)

McCurdy wrote an emotional article for the Wall Street Journal two years ago when her mother's cancer returned.

I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for my mother to tolerate all she has gone through and continues to go through – the pain, the worry and the battle. She wakes up every day hurting and goes to sleep hurting even more. My mother, the constant optimist and effervescent, sprightly woman I know her to be, is caged along with this hideous beast they call cancer.

Many thoughts and prayers are going out to Jennette and her family.

What words would you share with McCurdy to help her get through this very difficult time?

Image via Splash

Click "Like" if you wear a pink ribbon. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michele Zipp

loves vintage and will defend skinny jeans to the death though she is highly superstitious and "death" is probably a bad word choice. She has a touch of the hoarding disease and enjoys sleuthing, the worst reality shows, and wearing high heels, even at the playground. She's an AP mom of twins, slightly crunchy but with a pedicure.

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Mammograms After Age 50 May Be Too Late According to New Breast Cancer Research

woensdag 11 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Emily Abbate 15 hours ago

Just because Breast Cancer Awareness month isn't until October doesn't mean you have to wait to get educated about when and how often you should go in for a mammogram. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that women should start getting regular mammograms every two years once they reach 50; however, new research makes us wonder if 50 is too late for mammograms. A new study in the journal Cancer reveals that 50 percent of breast cancer deaths occur in women under 50, and get this: 71 percent of them are among women who haven't had regular mammograms. 

So what's this mean for the rest of us? Well, getting regular mammograms is more important than ever for sure. The big question, though, is WHEN is the right age to start?

Let's look at some facts:

Logically, it would make sense that if more than half of the women involved in the recent study died before the age of 50, then getting tested before then would be a good idea. The issue with that? Well, earlier testing has its risks since false positives are much more common in younger women.

So what should you do? Well, it depends on your family history. If you have a first-degree relative with breast cancer, then the American College of Radiology suggests you begin getting mammograms 10 years before the age of that relative's diagnosis, or between the ages of 25 and 30. Otherwise, the American Cancer Society recommends women start getting annual screenings at 40. 

The choice is up to you. However, at the very least get educated on ways to prevent breast cancer and ways to make mammograms more bearable.

When did you get your first mammogram? Do you have any advice for other women?

Image via themozhi's pixel displays/Flickr

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A Drink a Day Before First Pregnancy Strongly Linked to Breast Cancer in Major New Study

dinsdag 3 september 2013

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by Kiri Blakeley 2 hours ago

I wish that all of these studies linking cancer and alcohol consumption had come out when I was in college. Not that I necessarily would have put down my wine cooler and read them. But, one can always imagine, right? Still, it seems like every time you turn around now, someone is telling you how bad drinking is for you. Can't we go back to that time when wine was supposed to make you live forever? What happened to that? That was fun, right? But anyway, we're in the downer years for booze -- when pretty much any drop of the stuff is going to send you into a premature grave. A new major study links alcohol consumption to breast cancer.

According to the study, drinking just one alcoholic drink a day -- one glass of wine after work; one beer with dinner; one shot of tequila before you get into bed (we all do that, right?) -- can increase your chances of getting breast cancer. Delayed childbearing can also increase your breast cancer risk. So you ladies who opted out of childrearing to party -- here's your comeuppance! I kid, I kid, but these studies are like after us, eh?!

Anyhoo, this research is the first study to concentrate on those drinking years between first menstruation and first pregnancy -- probably the time when most women drank the most. Except for those moms who began drinking like fish to ease the stress of motherhood. But don't worry, your bummer study will come at some later date.

These years are, of course, the drinking years for a lot of us -- high school and college. Your risk increased 11 percent for every six drinks per week. Which seems like a lot of breast cancer!

Researchers seem to think that breast tissue is more susceptible to environmental risk factors like alcohol before pregnancy -- because pregnancy causes cellular changes that make breast tissue less susceptible to cancer.

Scarily, a woman's lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is one in eight. That's a pretty big chance! Which apparently increases if you were a big drinker in your non-pregnancy years. Or even a moderate drinker. I mean, most women I knew in my teens and 20s didn't drink one drink a day -- but they certainly made up for it on the weekends!

The study concludes that women who haven't yet had their first pregnancy should limit their alcohol consumption to less than one drink a day.

Could the "healthy" beer a day habit my grandmother had for decades have contributed to her breast cancer? Hmmm. Hey, let's go back to that time when one drink a day was just fiiiiiine. 'Memba that?

Are you feeling as doomed as I am?

Image via Steampunk Family the von Hedwigs/Flickr

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Moms’ Personality Quirks Can Predict Whether They’ll Give Baby Bottle or Breast

dinsdag 6 augustus 2013

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by Nicole Fabian-Weber 3 hours ago

A new study has found that a mom's personality traits play a big role in whether she breastfeeds her baby or gives the little cutie a bottle. Apparently, women who are extroverts have more of a propensity toward nursing, while women who are prone to anxiety are more likely to feed their child from a bottle.

While I think a million and one things go into a woman's decision to breastfeed -- and keep breastfeeding -- I'm not so sure "being an extrovert" plays a role. However, anxiety? Yes, definitely.

Most moms I know nursed their second (or third or fourth) children longer than their first. In fact, I know many women who nursed their first kids a little more than a few weeks, and breastfed their next well into toddlerhood. And I get this. Big time. My nursing experience wound up being nothing like I imagined. And I think -- actually, I know -- anxiety and general on edgeness from having a baby who cried a lot (and no help) had something to do with it. If I have another child, I'm fairly certain that things will be much, much different than they were with my first. In many aspects of parenting, not just with breastfeeding, I think I'd be a much more confident parent to a newborn if I had another -- because I've been there. And everything, including nursing, wouldn't come as such a shock.

I'm not so sure I fully buy the "extroverts are more likely to nurse" conclusion, as this hasn't been the experience in my life at all. I know many introverts who breastfeed their children and many outgoing people who do not. Perhaps extroverts are more likely to nurse in public, but I can't see the overall connection.

We all know there are a variety of things that go into a woman's decision to breastfeed or not, but it's interesting to see, in writing, that nervousness plays a role. It may, in some small way, give hope to women who didn't successfully breastfeed their first child to do so with their next.

Did you have different nursing experiences with your children?

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Woman Misdiagnosed With Deadly Breast Cancer Suffered Through Chemo for Months

vrijdag 19 juli 2013

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by Maressa Brown 18 hours ago

If the story about the woman diagnosed with "ghetto booty" didn't horrify you enough, here's another story out of Texas of a woman misdiagnosed with ... stage IV terminal breast cancer. Ugh. Herlinda Garcia's doctor, the late Dr. Ahmad I. Qadri, misread the results of a PET/CT scan and incorrectly thought she had enlarged lymph nodes. The mistake was not noticed until after Garcia had basically been through hell and back, believing she was dying of breast cancer! WOW.

In 2009, Garcia underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor from her left breast, so when Dr. Qadri said she had breast cancer about a month later, she didn't question it. The mother of four gave away her belongings and wrote a bucket list. She proceeded to undergo seven months of chemotherapy treatment and was given anxiety meds to help cope with stress. It wasn't until 2011 that Garcia found out she had been cancer-free since April 2009! Absolutely outrageous.

She found out when she was being treated for anxiety (huh, I wonder why!) and one physician had a hunch Garcia was a-okay, which was confirmed via testing. In fact, according to the medical malpractice lawsuit Garcia filed, "all of Dr. Qadri's treatment had been unnecessary." What. A. Nightmare.

Last week, Garcia was awarded $367,500 in damages against her doctor (which were awarded from his estate, being that he passed away in March of this year). But no amount of money is enough to make up for what she went through.

Hopefully, stories like this only serve to reinforce the importance of getting a second opinion or third or whatever it takes to feel assured that you're getting the right, satisfying answers and treatment plan. I also feel like Garcia's anxiety may have had a lot to do with her intuition telling her that the diagnosis was wrong!

Thank goodness Garcia is no longer living her life in fear of death. With hope, this story inspires others to always ask questions, feel empowered as patients to always ask questions and trust our guts -- just as much or MORE than anyone in a white coat.

What do you make of this horror story? How do you feel about always getting a second opinion?

Click "Like" if you wear a pink ribbon. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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