Dear Angie,
I don't even know if you will ever read this letter but I'm writing it anyway, even if it's just to console the sobbing mess that I am upon reading your revelation in The New York Times about your preventative double mastectomy.
Your courageous decision touched my heart so deeply, as I felt it was made not out of vanity, rather for your children and hopefully for their children. Indeed a mother's love knows no bounds and your choice is a living testament to that.
I myself went through the process of losing my Mom to an illness and while your experience was a decade long, mine was only a year but just as devastating. At least you and your family knew what took your Mom away. Until now, 13 years later we still don't know what illness our Mom suddenly suffered from and eventually succumbed to after a year of hospitalizations. As the primary caregiver, I had no time to process my emotions during that year and when my Mom passed away, my world just came crashing down. It didn't matter that I was 24 and also a new mother, my thought was I was the most pitiful person in the world because I had just lost my confidante, my best friend, the grandmother my future children will never know. It is the same thought that eats me up everyday, praying to God to spare my son from the same ordeal, praying that if it was my time to leave this earth then just yank me out and not let my son and future children suffer while I suffer.
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| Me at 3 months old with my Mom |
I would like to thank you, Angie for opening this door to all of us. Thank you for not keeping this a secret which someone of your stature could have done. Thank you for making us see that we have a choice to take action in taking care of our bodies because in doing so, as mothers, it is ultimately a selfless action for our loved ones.
You and your family will be in my prayers.
Much love and respect,
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