October’s Double Ribbons
October brings a double whammy for me when it comes to awareness.
For thirty-two years, I’ve reminded people to schedule their mammograms. My annual mammogram saved my life. Over those years, I’ve faced more scares than I can count—biopsies, surgeries, sleepless nights—and each time, the results eventually read benign findings. Every letter that arrives saying NED (no evidence of disease) brings the same flood of relief, until the next test, the next wait.
Once you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, life becomes a series of “next times.”
But this October feels different.
While writing Running Shoes, I finally faced another truth—one I had never spoken aloud. Almost at the same time I was battling breast cancer, I was living in a violent marriage. For years, I called it other names, because it was easier to wear pink than to hold the purple ribbon and say the words domestic violence.
Today, I can say them. I can tell the story.
I ran—literally ran—and I survived.
Pink and purple. Both mine.
Two colors, two truths, one life reclaimed.
#FierceFragileBrave 🔥🦋 — Carole Sanek
