In Other Words...

Think Pink!

11 October 2026

by Julie Arndt, Messenger Editor

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among women in the United States, with about one in eight women developing invasive breast cancer in their lifetime.   

My college friend and sorority sister Abby is one of them. Abby and I studied Shakespeare together one semester. Freshman year, we shared a New Testament class and pledged our sorority together.   

Abby actually has Metastatic breast Cancer, which means her cancer has spread from the original tumor in the breast through the blood or lymph system to other parts of the body. She lives with constant pain. She has been through round after round of chemo, radiation and immunotherapy, all the scans, as she put it once, “known to human kind,”   and she’s holding her own.

She’s not giving up. 

My friend Jean, a former co-worker of Robert’s at the library. She was the first friend I made when we moved here. We were theater buddies, and attended some great shows at GPAC together. We both loved science fiction, especially Star Trek. 

Abby’s original diagnosis came more that twenty years ago. Jean’s was more recent, just in the last decade or so. Both are survivors. Jean is in remission and cancer free. Abby continues to fight. 

They are among the bravest, fiercest women I know. 

They both continue to live active, fulfilling lives despite the shadow of cancer. Of it returning, spreading, sapping their strength and energy. 

But never their faith. Never their hope. Never their desire to live a full life with those they love.   

Abby says she is going to enjoy all she can for as long as God gives her. She knows that scans and therapies can only do so much. 

Jean is active, busy, smart, full of joy. She says she has learned, through her experiences as a survivor, after treatments and reconstructive surgeries that every day is a gift. 

Breast cancer takes away so many girlfriends every year. So many moms and sisters.   

Be aware. Be tested. 

Don’t be one of them. I would miss you.