Dance Spirit Article
Thank you Dance Spirit for sharing my story. I began the Bald Ballerina movement to spread awareness that breast cancer is not just a disease of middle-aged and older women; that it does strike very young women like me, and it can also strike men. The only risk factor I had was being female. I am young, physically fit and slim; I have never taken hormonal medications; I follow a healthy lifestyle; and I do not carry the genes linked to breast cancer.
Cancer does not discriminate. It can strike anyone: young or old; rich or poor; healthy or sick. No one is too young; no one is too fit; no one is immune.
Please, please, please pay attention to your body and seek medical care if you notice any abnormalities in any area. Get regular mammograms and Pap smears. Ovarian and cervical cancer often show no symptoms until the cancer has become widespread. I recently lost a friend I met online to cervical cancer. She was only 33. Please do not put off getting these screening tests that could save your life.