Black, brown, yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, green….If you ever were a kid and colored with Crayola crayons, you’re probably familiar with the Crayola eight-pack of standard colors. Those are the ones teachers hand out in school — the basic drawing choice for chunky little hands that are still learning that there are lines in which we are supposed to color, and the penalty for drawing outside those lines is…well, is it a penalty to grab life, shake it by the horns, and live by pure, unadulterated passion? Diane Mapes is like a box of 64 vivid crayons (sharpener included), with expressive names that conjure up instant images in your mind….Electric Lime, Hot Magenta, Jazzberry Jam, Outrageous Orange, Purple Pizzazz, Razzle Dazzle Rose, Screamin’ Green….
As an experienced journalist, dating humorist ( Single Shot Seattle ), and lover of living life out loud, Diane is not your typical wallflower, content to sit on the sidelines and watch the party. She jumps in with both feet and lands where she lands. She rolls with the punches, and trust me when I say that, as a boxer, she can give as good as she gets. Feisty, funny, fiery…this is not a woman who will ever go gentle into that good night. You’ll see her kicking and screaming the whole way. I was lucky enough to meet her earlier this year, and believe me when I say she’s a memorable personality.
That’s why, when Diane got sucker-punched by breast cancer back in 2011, she came out slugging. Her determination to dominate the disease is no fluke. It’s what makes Diane who she is. And that’s why I want to share her blog with you.
So many women are grateful to survive breast cancer, and for many, just being alive is enough. For those of us who love them, we learn to appreciate every day as a gift, because we know that tomorrow may never come, that sometimes you can be so overwhelmed by lemons that you are drowning in lemonade.
Diane Mapes is someone who is glad she’s still with us, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting more. And by more, I mean she wants her “girls” back. For that reason, she is paving the way for all the breast cancer survivors who have ever thought, “If they can put a man on the moon, why can’t they give the ‘girls’ their due?”
I understand that climb-out-of-the-box mentality. Discontent with the status quo, the passionate writer demands more, hungers for more…needs more. And because she does and she’s willing to make the effort to grab it, many women are likely to benefit from her refusal to raise the white flag as a breast cancer survivor.
There’s a new reconstruction process for breast cancer survivors that is currently being done at the University of Washington Medicine Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic, and Diane Mapes is a patient there. I can’t begin to describe the process and do it justice. To be honest, it sounds more like a wack-a-doodle gizmo thing you see on a 3 AM infomercial, right next to Suzanne Somers’ Thigh Master. Or that contraption my mother claimed expanded her chest with every repetition (“We must, we must, we must build up the bust….”) The important thing to note is that this is actually a process that is legitimately being pursued by a reputable medical establishment, and if it is successful, women will have an option that doesn’t involve removing other body parts to reconstruct new breasts. Fewer scars, fewer complications, and a far more “user-friendly” way to make women feel more like their old selves.
Some people might think it’s over the top. After all, lots of women choose more traditional routes in reconstruction. Or they decide that they should just leave well enough alone. But for every breast cancer survivor who has ever looked at the scars, remembered what she’s lost, and is willing to admit that she still misses her “girls”, Diane’s in the ring, duking it out because she really believes that this whole complicated process is worth it.
Visit Diane’s blog. Follow her progress and find out whether it’s worth all the hard work:
I’m rooting for her. I’m in her corner, cheering her on. I want this to be a huge success. Not just because Diane is a hoot, which she is, but because there are so many women whose lives have drastically changed after breast cancer. I believe in quality of life. I believe that a woman has to feel good to look good. Our real beauty is actually on the inside, and when we express ourselves, that joie de vivre, that passion, pours out of us in bubbly, effervescent ways that inspire and invigorate others. But if we face the constant, painful reminder that cancer has taken…and taken…and taken from us, it’s hard to feel good inside. Good reconstructive plastic surgery is a valuable tool for the wounded psyche, to restore more than just superficial beauty. It allows us to feel less segregated, less isolated, less marginalized by disease. This isn’t just a boob job. This is the rebuilding of a woman who wants to take back what cancer stole from her — the image of herself as a woman. You go, girl!