Articles by Josh Lange

By Joshua Lange

I wrote an article last October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, discussing my Grandma Linda’s story battling breast cancer, and how my family and I were confident that she would beat the cancer. Sadly, things took a turn for the worse, and after a prolonged battle with triple negative breast cancer, she passed away back in May of this year at the age of 77. My grandma could have prolonged her life with continuing chemo, however, the doctors said that she was inoperable. The choice was either she could live possibly a year constantly sick while going in and out of the hospital with chemotherapy or have a good couple of months to spend with family and friends before succumbing. My grandma chose the latter.

She had fought cancer already for so long on top of all of her numerous health aliments, which showed how tough of a fighter she was. Even in hospice, despite being in pain, she clung on long enough for most loved ones to visit and say their final goodbyes. She was never a quitter, and it pained her that she could not beat the cancer, but her resilience and faith throughout the whole battle inspired everyone around her. Even when the chips were down, she never swayed from what mattered the most, being there for her family.

With Breast Cancer Awareness Month back this year, I want my grandma’s story to spread awareness about this horrible disease that has taken far too many lives. While breast cancer took her life, every year, more people beat the disease and live long and healthy lives as breast cancer survivors. Two of her sisters became breast cancer survivors and went on to live long lives. The best way to stop the disease is early prevention, through genetic testing and mammograms. The treatments are improving too, as even with my grandma, she lived with cancer longer than people in her same scenario 20 years ago.

With these advancements in medicine and networks fighting the disease, one day, breast cancer will be a thing of the past. My message to any readers battling cancer currently would be to follow my grandma’s mantra of “keep fighting and keep your faith.”