Tidewater Komen Race For The Cure

For the fourth year in a row, I have accepted the challenge to raise funds to support the Tidewater Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure in its efforts to end breast cancer forever,which a woman has a 1 in 8 chance of developing in her lifetime. I will also take part in the Komen Tidewater Race for the Cure as part
of this program.

Please help support me in this important project by contributing
generously to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Your tax-deductible
contribution will fund services in the Tidewater and Southeast
Virginia area that include education, screening, treatment and patient
support.. It is faster and easier than ever to support this great
cause - you can make your donation online by simply clicking on the
link here: http://www.info-komen.org/goto/raceforginni

Whatever you can give will help...it all adds up!
I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my
progress.

Sincerely,

Karen West

Trace's Journey site news

For several years now, I have been keeping my sister's website www.tracesjourney.com updated for her. She asked me to take it over about 2 years before she passed. She would always keep me up to date with the content that she wanted added to the site.

Recently, I felt moved to take the site to a new direction. I really believe it was her inspiring me.

After meeting so many survivors and new patients with different concerns, I decided it was time to address questions and post helpful links on Ginni's site for ALL cancer survivors. I am hoping to receive input from health care professionals and those in the health insurance field. I am collecting information from reliable sources for those in need. There are some who are uninsured and underinsured who are frightened and need to know where to turn. There are others with family history and symptoms who are unable to get an appointment quickly because of the influx of patients in doctor's offices due to influenza, and they're stressing. There are others who have been diagnosed and are being treated, but are going through depressive periods and "chemo-brain". These are just a few areas of concern.

If anyone knows of links to helpful websites, please feel free to share them with me here, or email karen@tracesjourney.com. If you are in the healthcare field, I would love any information you can share about cancer, research, questions for the physician, etc. From survivors, I would really love to hear from you. What were your concerns when you were first diagnosed? How did you handle the situation? Your experience could help someone else in their time of need. At www.tracesjourney.com, there is an area for survivors to begin their own blog and you may feel free to use it. Anything you can share about your experience and how you are recovering can be very beneficial.

Trace's Journey is also on Twitter. Follow us at www.twitter.com/TracesJourney

My brother Ken and I are in the process of reworking the site. Whatever suggestions you can offer for content that would help those battling cancer and their caregivers is most gratefully appreciated.

Thank you so MUCH!

Here's to doing our part to raise awareness, and help end cancer forever...

Karen