Keep Calm and Breastfeed On

This is an original posted for MomsRising.org by To-wen Tseng.

This Mother’s Day marks a milestone for me and my baby—my first (and so far only) child just turned one year old, and I have continued exclusively breastfeeding him for one whole year, in spite of the two fibromas in my right breast.

For this I have to thank my own mother, the most optimistic breast cancer survivor I’ve ever known, for showing me how to face the disease that can fright many women.

I still remember that day when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, the following surgery, the chemotherapy, and all those sleepless nights. I especially remember what she told me about losing one breast, “it doesn’t interfere with my rule as a woman nor a mother.”

Thanks to her example, I know exactly what to do when my doctor found a suspected cancer in my right breast: Keep calm and breastfeed on.

It turned out to be a fibroma instead of cancer. I have to say that I was relieved. But, still, I know I can still be a great woman and a great mother (maybe not exactly like my mother but close) should that really happen!
Mommy and me, 2008.
On her left chest is a chemo port scar.​

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