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Skin : Embryolisse Le Crème Face : Foundation / concealer Cozzette Infinite Makeup Eyes : Cozzette Infinite Eyeshadows – Niobium , Illume , Pyrite , Dignity and Evolve Illumination : Danessa Myricks Beauty – Enlight in Light and Synergy Lips : Dose of Color in Black Rose
hair
LIFE, DEATH, DETOURS AND DERAILMENTS
Our 20s are meant to be full of madness, friendships, and
feeling indestructible, while creating stories that will last
a lifetime! This is a time of counting pennies for the gas
tank and enjoying greasy diners after late night partying
and dragging yourself into class with a hangover haunting you until you do it all again. Stephanie Ramirez, age
24 was living her own version of this life until she discovered a lump on her breast and her 20 year old life became
unrecognizable.
Like so many of us dealing with health issues, Stephanie
wanted to ignore the lump and explain it away. Maybe it
was a sports injury from a pulled a muscle she thought;
however the fear was already alive and the appointment
with the doctor was made. As Stephanie disrobed and
the examination began, the doctor told her, ” I feel it
might be benign, but let’s get an ultrasound and just
check it out and to be safe.” Stephanie was given two
options, one was to watch the growth for six months or to
have the growth removed and checked out. Because the
growth had appeared from nowhere, she chose the later,
which felt like a nudging from her guardian angel. While
the doctors felt 99% sure that this lump was benign,
Steph was hit in the gut to find out, she was the unlucky
1% and her world was turned upside down.
This young woman who was living a life full of friendships, dates and dreams was suddenly thrust into excruciating decisions and thoughts of, “how can I survive
this and what is going to happen to my family, my loved
ones…. me?” After the news was given to Steph, she had
to figure out how to tell her loved ones. She broke the
news to her father first, who wept. He slowly walked himself up the stairs while Steph picked up the phone to call
her boyfriend to break the news. He answered and heard
her tears and she explained to him that the lump wasn’t
benign and she was in for the battle of her life. The phone
went silent and her boyfriend softly said, “I need to call
you back.” She hung up the phone while breaking down,
not realizing on the other end of that line was a man who
was just brought to his knees and had to catch his breath.
As she sat downstairs crying, her heartbroken mother
came to her and asked, “Is it true”? Steph knew nobody
ever wants to hear the word cancer, but it was true. Now
was the time to battle and figure out how she was going to
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survive and could she survive?
The next few days felt out of control and as if life was
moving at hyper speed. Full of fear, she entered her
surgeon’s office trying to hold onto any bit of hope available. It was now time for some very hard decisions that
were far beyond her 24 years. As she sat waiting for the
surgeon, she battled with her thoughts, “My life had just
started and there are so many amazing things happening! I met a wonderful man, I was accepted in university,
locked down a new job, and everything was going beautifully and then… it wasn’t!” Waves of emotions swept
over her and the wondering of, “how could this happen
to me and why didn’t this happen to somebody else?”
Of course she didn’t really want this to happen to anyone but when you are fighting for your life all of these
feelings rise to the surface. She was like an ocean’s cliff
being slammed by the waves trying to cut away from her
and found herself in an undertow, “I felt sadness, despair,
loneliness, fea ȁ�����������ѡ�͔����ɕ�ͥ���ѡ�՝��́����$)��ͼ����Ё��������̰���䁅���������������t�ݡ�����́���ɕ����䁑�����ձЁ��ȁ�́���ͥ���́Ѽ�չ����х����Mѕ�������݅�)��Ʌ������Ё�ɽ��ѡ������������չ����ѽ���ѡ�Ё͡��݅�)��ɽ�������������������х她�����ٔ��Q��́݅́������Ёѡ��)͡����ѕ�����Ѽ�ݥ���������ѡ����є������ȁ������̰ͥ�͡�)͕Ё��ȁ��ɝ��䁙�ȁ����Չ������ѕ�ѽ��)Mѕ���é���ѽȁ݅́����ɥ͕���Ё��ȁ�ե�����������͕�)����ͥ���Ѽ���ٔ�����Չ������ѕ�ѽ�䰁��Ёɕ����ѕ��ѡ��)ѡ�́݅́������ͥ���͡�������ٕ������M���݅́ݽ�ɥ���ѡ�)�����ȁ��ձ�����Ʌє�Ѽ�ѡ���ѡ�ȁ�ɕ��Ё����͡������Ѽ)���ݡ�Ё݅́���Ё��ȁ��ȁ��ٕ�����̸�]�����ѡ�ɔ��́��)�ՅɅ�ѕ��ѡ�������ȁݽ��eЁɕ��ɸ��͡���Ʌ�����ѡ��ɕ���)����ѽ�������ɽ��ݡ�ɔ����������ݕ���́ݽ����ݔ��ɔ)х՝�Ё��ѡ��ݽɱ��ѡ�Ёͼ��Ս�������ȁ����ѥ�䁥́��͕�)�������ѡ��݅�ݔ����������ѡ��͡���������ȁ���䰁��Ё͡�)�ե����ɕ���镐�͡��݅́ͼ��Ս����ɔ�ѡ�����ȁ�ɕ���̸)M���݅́ɕ���ͥ�����ȁ�ɕ���́Ѽ����Ʌ�����ȁ�����)Q�������Ё����ɔ���ɝ��䰁��ȁ��ٕ�����́���ɽչ�������)����ѡ��ѽ���ѥ���Ѽ��Ʌ�ѡ��ɽͅ�䁽ٕȁ��ȸ�!�ȁ��ɝ���݅́��ɥ����q!���]�����t�����ݡ����͡�����Ё���݅�)ݥѠ���Ȱ�ѡ�ɔ�݅́���չ��ɱ她�����ȁ���!���]�������)�������́���ѡ����q1��ЁM����ȳ�t�ݡ�����́���ѽ�䁽�����Ѡ�)��Ʌ�������ȁ���Ѡ�͡����չ�����͕������ɽչ���()����Ʌ����́ݡ��ѽ�����ɔ������ȸ�M�������������饹�)�ɕ�����͔�ݡ��݅́݅ɴ�������ɥ����M���ѽ�����ɔ���)Mѕ����������ȁ��Օ��ф���Ʌ����ѡ�Ȥ�����ѽ�����ȁѡ��)�ٕ��ѡ����݅́������Ѽ�������丁���݅́ݥѠ���ȸ�M��)���Ʌ����ѡ�́�������������ٔ��������Ё͡��݅́��������)���ɽѕ�ѥ����́͡��݅́ݡ����������Ѽ���ɝ���)M�ɝ���ѽ�����ٔ�����́����ݡ���ѡ�����ѽȁ��ɥٕ����)ѡ��݅�ѥ���ɽ����������ݥѠ������䰁ѡ�䁥������ѕ�䁙���)�����հ�ݡ���ѡ��ͅ܁ѡ�����������ѡ����ɝ����é��̸)Q��䁙��Ё��ɕ���͔��́ѡ��ݕɔ�ѽ���ѡ����ɝ���݅́�Ս���͙հ�����Mѕ���݅́���ɕ��ٕ�丁Mѕ�������ɕ�������)݅�����������ѡ��ɕ��ٕ��ɽ���Ѽ���ͥ���ݡ����ɕ���+�q]�������Ѽ�ѡ��ɕ��ٕ��ɽ����t�ݡ����݅́������յ���ѥ����������������������Ʌѥ������������M���ѽ�����������)Ѽ�ѡ�������)]�ѡ��Ё�Ս�����͔���Ё݅́ѥ���Ѽ��х�Ё�����ѡ�Ʌ��)ݡ����݅́��ȁ��ɔ��ɥ��ѕ�����Ѽ���ȁѡ�����ɝ��丁ٕ��ѡ����͡�����܁����Ё������݅́�ɽ����٥�́��������)�����́�����ȁ��������������̰�����������ՙ��ɥ����M���݅�)���əհ������ͥ�����ȁ���ȁ������ͥ���ݡ��͡��̸݅�5�ɔ)ѡ������ѡ�����ѡ��չ���ݸ�݅́ѡ�����Ё�ɥ��ѕ�����)Q�ɕ��������������������٥�ѥ���Mѕ���݅�ѕ��Ѽ�����Ё����)�������ѡ������������ɕ��Ѡ��͡�ٕ����ȁ�����Ѽ�������)��и)Q������Ё��䰁͡����ѕɕ��ѡ��������ɽ�����������ݥѠ)�ѡ�ȁ݅�ɥ��́ͥ�ѥ�����������̰�����������Ѽ��Չ�̰�������)ݥѠ���՝̸�]�����͡��݅́��Ʌ�������չ���ٕ���͡�)��չ�����͕������ɽչ������݅ɴ�͵���́�����Ʌ�����)ݡ�����������ȁ�ɥ����́��������ٕ�����݅ɐ��͡�)݅́�����������́��Ʌ���չѥ��͡���ѽ������ѡ��͡�ݕȁ���)������Ѽ�ݕ�����́��ȁ���ȁͽ�ѱ䁙����Ѽ�ѡ������ȸ�M��)ѡ�՝�Ё͡��݅́ɕ��䁙�ȁѡ�́�����а��ٕ��ѡ�՝��͡�)�������ո�Ѽ�ѡ�����Ё݅ͻ�eЁ������Ѽ��������Ѽ���ȸ�M��)������������ͥ�����ȁ���ȁٕ݅́�䁵Ս�������݅э����)ѡ�����ɕ�́���ѡ���������������ݕȁ���܁���ѡ��ݥ����!��)���ȁѡ�Ё��������䁹Ց����ݥѠ����ձ�����܁������݅�)ݥѠ���͔��=ٕ�ݡ�������͡������ݕ��ѡ��ѕ��́Ѽ��������)͡��ͅ��������唁Ѽ�ѡ����ɰ����ѡ�����и�M���ѽ���ѡ��ѥ��)��������ݕ�����͕���Ѽ�������ѡ�������а��́͡��ɕ�����ɕ��ѡ��ݽɑ́�����ȁ�ɥ�����q�ԁ���Ё���Ʌ��������ձ��)����ɥ�����ѡ�͔�������́������̻�t�%Ё݅́�����х�Ё���)��ȁѼ����ɸ���ȁ�ɕ٥��͕́����ѡ��͍��́����ѡ���ՙ�́��()��������Ѽ�ѡ������ȸ�]����ѡ��ѕ��́���͕���Mѕ������)ݕ�ЁѼ���ȁ��ɕ��́������ȁ������٥���䁡���������)х���ѡ�����Ё�ѕ������͡�ٕ����ȁ�����������%Ё݅́ѡ��)�����Ёѡ�Ё͡�����͔�Ѽ�ɕ��ɐ���ȁɕ���Ѡ���́͡��݅�)͡�������ݡ��͡��݅́�������Ʌ�����ѡ�����ͽ��͡��݅�)����ЁѼ�����%Ё݅́��ѥ������Ʌ������͕�������Ѽ��ɽ�)��ɽ���ȁ������ɔ�����ѥ�հ�)=��)չ����Ѡ��Mѕ����������Ё��ȁ������͕�ͥ�����������)������������Ʌѕ�������������ѕ���M���������ѕ�����Ёѡ�)ݡ����ȁ������Ѡ�ͽ�ѱ䁥����ȁ��Ȱ��q���$�������Ѽ������ɽ�)ѡ�ϊ��t�ݡ����ݽձ��͕�����ȁ�չ�����Ѽ���ȁ��ٕ������)ݡ��͡��ݽձ��ѡ����ͬ���q���$�������Ѽ������ɽ��ѡ����t)M�����չ�����͕���ɕ����ɕ��ݥѠ���ٔ�ѡ�Ё͡������)ɕ�������ͥѥٔ������ѥ��锁�ٕ�䁉�Ё������ɝ�ѽ݅ɑ�)ѡ������и�
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