Six months ago, Annette was completing an 8 week clinical for nursing school, and suddenly realized that something was very wrong. As she stood watching a woman's breast being examined, her heart sank as she recognized the shape was the same as one of hers. Annette had been so busy, studying and learning, that her inklings that something was amiss, were being ignored up till then. The next day she went to see her doctor and he immediately began testing.

Annette was diagnosed with inflamatory breast cancer, a fast growing type of cancer that is fairly rare. In June, she began chemotherapy. After 4 treatments of chemo, nothing seemed to change and the tumor appeared to remain the same, approximately 5" x 4" in size. So an experimental chemotherapy was introduced, that proved to shrink the tumor a small amount.

I met Annette several months before her discovery that she was going to need treatment. Without telling me anything, she asked me to do a psychical scan of her body. "Seeing" her from Kansas to Michigan, I picked up a black spot from the back into the rib cage area. Black symbolizes mutated cells to me so I knew it wasn't good. I told her of my observations and she told me that she was being evaluated for breast cancer. I knew at that time that she would live if she held onto life with a vengence and asked her not to worry about it. She was dedicated to being brave.

Annette began to face her mortality. She said "cancer will unravel any sane person". Annette had begun past life regression with Dr. Elaine Hodge of Marquette, Michigan. Dr. Hodge began working with Annette from the beginning in discovering a past life mother. After three months of therapy, Annette's birth mother passed on. Although the transition was difficult, the work she did with Dr. Hodge eased the trauma. As she has been moving through the cancer, her work with Dr. Hodge has made a big impact on the attitude.

Being closer to God, Annette has felt moments of hope that fills her with significant love. She says that facing death assists you in finding what is really important in your life. People, love and health go to the top of the list very quickly. Things in life that were once important seem to fall away, according to Annette. But this does not mean that there are the moments of denial also. Facing the possibility of death can be surreal at times.

On the 3rd of January, Annette will have the surgery to remove her breast and check the lymph nodes for the spread of the disease. There are several things that Annette has realized during this entire situation. First of all, 1 in 9 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer every year. There is not a lot of money for victims of cancer from organizations, even though it will destroy a family's financial situation rapidly. She says that most of the money for cancer goes to research. As Annette is a single parent, she had to give up her job and accept Medicaid and benefits from the state. After her surgery, she will have one day in the hospital. That is all Medicaid will pay for. She will go home with a drain for a week after that.

Annette has shown incredible hope and bravery in the face of death and has been an inspiration to me. Sometimes we let the things that don't really matter, get in the way of our happiness. In speaking with Annette throughout the months of her illness, I have been struck by the way she has not carried a blanket of self-pity. As the year 2001 begins, I think it is important to grasp the true meaning of our lives here on this planet, and what every moment can mean. I hope that we can appreciate life to it's fullest this year and I wish you all prosperity and light. And especially, I look forward to the day that Annette walks free of disease, spreading the word of hope to everyone she meets.