Personal Stories

Early last year, I woke up one morning and couldn’t open my mouth. When I tried to do so, there was a “cluck” sound. I had difficulties brushing my teeth, eating, and even yawning.

In 2008, doctors discovered 7 lumps in my left breast and one in my right. They were thankfully benign. In 2012, the number of lumps on the left grew to 8. I was told to do a follow up 6 to 12 months later. Shortly after, we welcomed our first baby so I ignored the doctor’s advice to do a follow-up. I also did not follow up out of fear.

Growing up, my son, Zachary, had delayed speech, was violent, would zone out for hours on end, and do just one thing all day. Sometimes, he was also uncooperative. Feeding time could not be delayed—if we were late by even just five minutes, he would just move on to play and there would be no getting him back to the table for the meal.

I am sixty-seven years old and had trouble remembering names, such as those of film stars in popular movies. I even had trouble finding the right words to express myself and feared this was the beginning of memory problems.