My dear Pink Ribbon Readers, the time has come for me to share some news to share with you — news I’m sorry to deliver and comes with very mixed feelings on my behalf.

As some of you many know, I’ve been blogging about breast cancer for two years now, though I’ve only been here at the Pink Ribbon Review since last April. I’ve loved empowering women with information about breast cancer — and informing them about products and services that raise breast cancer awareness.

As a freelance writer, I’ve been able to manage my time so that I had room for blogging. Sometimes I was good at it, sometimes I wasn’t, but in the end, I struck a pretty good balance. For two years, blogging about breast cancer was critically important to me and my freelance lifestyle allowed me to immerse myself in all things pink.

But now, new contracts have come out for everyone on the b5media network and they take effect on November 1st. In the last few weeks I had to come to a decision (during October of all months!) as to whether I’d be able to commit to this blog under new contractual terms.

My decision was ultimately no, I could not, primarily because at the same time the new contracts came out, there were other opportunities for me as a freelancer that would take the back seat if I were to continue to spend my writing time blogging for this network.

As survivors need to make deliberate choices about how we spend our time, don’t we? That is what this is … a deliberate choice to move on due to circumstances that unfolded before me that I needed to respond to at the same time other opportunities were presenting themselves to me.

I wanted to wait until the BCAM giveaway was over to finish what I’d started for BCAM. I had to post tonight, however, because after midnight, I don’t have a contract and won’t have permission to log in to my administrative panel!

I have promised to work closely with whoever takes over the writing here. If all goes well, I’ll even write a guest post or two for her in the upcoming weeks, when the need arises and the muse strikes.

Meanwhile, you can always visit my website, www.karenmlynch.com, to read what I’m up to. There’s a link on that site for you to send me an email if you’d like to stay in touch; I’d love to hear from you.

But until then … take care and God bless.

The topic of today’s Woman’s Day Magazine blog talk radio show is how to reduce your risk of breast cancer and the host is interviewing me, Karen Lynch, during the alloted 30 minute segment.

You can listen to the show, through your computer in case you’re not familiar with Blog Talk Radio, and comment here so we can continue the conversation after the show.

The show goes live at noon EST: Here’s a link to the segment.

If you can’t make today’s broadcast, know they are archived. Here’s the link to the schedule for all Radio WD shows past and future.

Hope you listen in at noon EST!

Lee National Denim Day is taking place this year on Friday, October 3, 2008.

This is one of the largest single-day fundraisers for breast cancer and has raised more than $70 million in the fight against breast cancer.

This year, won’t you join me on wearing jeans on Friday, October 3rd and making a $5 contribution to the Women’s Cancer Programs of Entertainment Industry Foundation via our team page?

Here’s a link to the Pink Ribbon Review Denim Day Team Page.

I set a goal for $500 — if 100 people donate $5 through this site, we’ll meet that goal. (Of course, you can always donate more.)

AND … here’s a cool thing … Lee Jeans has selected me as one of 10 bloggers participating in a challenge this year:

If I recruit the most people (more than 50) to my team to participate with me in wearing denim and contributing to the fight against breast cancer on Oct. 3, I will win a $500 Lee wardrobe for myself or to give away to readers.

I hope by now you know me well enough to know I’ll share the wealth.

Now, for the record, proceeds from this fundraiser will go to the EIF to:

• Fund Lee Laboraties (working to find more effective, less toxic breast cancer treatments)
• Develop a blood test for earlier detection
• Helping the National Breast Cancer Coalition create online and print resources for advocate training and patient education

If you want to shop the apparel to psyche yourself up for the day … here’s the site for shopping.

So please, join me, on this fun fundraising day. And if you send me a photo of yourself that morning wearing your denim I’ll get it posted on my website (with a link to yours, by the way).

(Image: Lee Jeans)

It’s my birthday … I’m gonna party like it’s my birthday.

No, seriously, I’m working this morning, after I feed the kids (I’m already hearing, “Mom, I woke up hungry.”) and get them off to school. But then I am going out to lunch.

Then I’ll come home and work some more … pick up the kids from school … get one to soccer practice and help the other one do his homework — while managing the jealous preschooler/third born child who gets nothing from me on days like that — feed the kids, get them ready for bed.

Hopefully by then my husband will come home from his business trip and THEN:

I’m gonna party like it’s my birthday with the girlfriends that are coming over to celebrate with me tonight.

It’ll actually be a perfect day.

Here’s what I’m singing to myself before my coffee maker beeps: “Happy Birthday to me. I’m 103. I look like a monkey or a big chimpanzee.”

Now I’m wondering … do I look 41??????? AAACCCCKKKKK!!!!!

(Image: picapp)

Health.com is the web affiliate of Health Magazine; and this month, I was used as a source for an article written by Anne Krueger called “The Survivor Files: Amazing Women Share Their Breast Cancer Journeys.”

Here’s the paragraph on me:

Connecticut mother of three Karen Lynch, who writes for pinkribbonreview.com, appears to have survived breast cancer with her sense of humor intact. Through two bouts with the disease, a double mastectomy, and a TRAM flap reconstruction, she has blogged about everything from breast nicknames (she dubbed her perky reconstructed duo “Barbie breasts” because they have no nipples) to tricks for keeping cancer anxiety from rubbing off on your kids. Karen is frank about how her body image has evolved: “What matters is that I’m here. My body is just my body.”

Here’s a link to the article; the page you get to should look like this:

I’m so happy they used that quote of mine … it is one of the facets of survivorship that I am most proud of and it bears repeating:

“What matters is that I’m here. My body is just my body.”

Each May, as part of the Power In Pink campaign, Under Armour holds a national survivor search to find the survivors who embody this mission: physical fitness helping with breast cancer prevention, survival, and recovery.

After all the entries are received, three women are chosen to represent the campaign in print, in store and online.

This year, Under Armour received over 200 entries from women in response to their call for undeniable survivors. They chose the three women they felt would best represent the campaign in print and in store — and selected 17 more women to share their stories online as undeniable survivors.

I’m honored to have been chosen as an undeniable survivor this year.

Here’s the link to the page of survivors who are a part of this campaign … can you find me in there? Will you read my story?

You should also know, for each item purchased from the Pretty in Pink collection throughout the promotion, $2.00 will be donated to breast cancer charities. And Under Armour is sponsoring many, many events that help support the cause and survivors every where.

Read some of the survivor stories … they make you want to get out there and DO SOMETHING, don’t they?

At the beginning of each month I study my traffic/usage statistics to see what kind of posts the Pink Ribbon Readers seem to gravitate towards.

Yes, you like the contests. But you also like the personal essays I’ve written, the newsworthy stories I explain to you and the blog post round ups I do for you.

With that last point in mind, here’s a recap of the five posts that you, the Pink Ribbon Readers, brought towards the top of the list in July:

• Why I Celebrate Adoption as an Alternative

• My Personal Independence Day
• Controversial Findings About Breast Self Exam Explained
• Understanding the Breast Cancer Protection Act
• Living With Cancer Blog Posts

If you’re new to the Pink Ribbon Review, you can take a look at this post that I created in July, with links to all the pertinent information about me and this blog.

Thank you, so much, for reading.

I wasn’t even sure how I did it at first, but I downloaded the Susan G. Komen for the Cure toolbar for Firefox. Truth be told now, I discovered it via facebook … but that’s another story.

Back to the toolbar: Now I’m in a whole new world of Internet browsing.

I poked around a bit and found out that you can download it here.

Right on the toolbar, there’s a bookmark where you can learn more about the Komen organization, there’s a yahoo search box, a bookmark showing how to get more involved … and bookmarks for messages, videos, the Promise Shop and a donation page. All right on your Firefox toolbar …

After reading a welcome/thank you message … I read an invitation to participate in “Passionately Pink“: your group can wear pink any day/days from now through October. Each group member donates $5 … I need to talk to the powers that be here at b5media to see if we can’t host one of these days here at the network (Kendra?).

Now, I’m raising money for the cause through the toolbar. As of now, $.07 — but it’s a start.

Anyway, enjoy …. if nothing else, it’s fun.

(Image: Komen)

Christina Applegate. She’s been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her latest role on “Samantha Who?” and starred in numerous films and TV sitcoms over the years since she was a child.

Of course, like me, you might remember her for her role as the hysterically bratty, ditzy, beautiful albeit slutty, Kelly Bundy on “Married … With Children.” Classic.

Christina’s breast cancer was caught early and she’s expected to make a full and speedy recovery.

I just said aloud, ‘Gosh, she’s just so young’ and my husband replied, ‘Yeah, she’s the age you were when you were dealing with breast cancer the first time.’ He’s right; I was diagnosed two months before my 36th birthday. My heart is going out to Christina because I can relate to her even though we’re worlds apart in terms of lifestyle.

This is not just idle gossip: Christina’s publicist confirmed her diagnosis on Saturday.

The Emmy winner’s cancer was detected through an MRI ordered by a doctor and is not life-threatening, publicist Ame Van Iden said in a statement Saturday.

One of the stories I read explained that her mother is a survivor. Looks like a gene runs in that beautiful family tree.

So let’s pray for Christina to have peace of mind, because cancer is cancer, no matter how early it is caught and we all know what she is going through. Let’s pray that her surgeons and other medical care providers have wisdom and precision. And let’s pray that her diagnosis serves a greater good … and more women are diagnosed early as a result while we wait for the cure.

(Image: Newscom)

I recently read a Reuters release on “Emotional” writing; apparently a study team led by Dr. M. Soledad Cepeda of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, MA discovered that cancer patients could find value in writing down their emotions. Furthermore, the act of writing down their emotions might improve the pain symptoms and their overall well-being.

So, of course, I poked around for more information. I found the original abstract from the Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, the June 2008 issue, and read this:

“Subgroup analyses showed that patients whose narratives had high emotional disclosure had significantly less pain and reported higher well-being scores than patients whose narratives were less emotional.”

To clarify … the findings suggest that the emotional release of writing, specifically, is what helps patients deal with their cancer pain, according to Cepeda’s team. The quandary? It’s also possible that more seriously ill patients might find it more difficult to write about their feelings and they’re the ones who need to the most.

So, what can we do here with that information? Let’s start with something small. Are you willing to do some narrative writing to gain some therapeutic value? Grab a pad of paper or a journal and write about this: Think about the moment you were you diagnosed with breast cancer, whatever type/name/stage you were diagnosed with. What was that moment like for you? How did you feel when you first heard the words, ‘you have breast cancer’? If you feel moved to write more, please, don’t censor yourself.

Email me all or some of what you write at pinkribbonreview at gmail dot com or leave your response in the comments below … let’s get writing about the emotions we experienced and see if we can improve our well-being at the least. And if you share, you might encourage someone else to share, too, and that might improve their well-being. And when we find commonalities in our experiences and feelings, that might be therapeutic … so let’s give it a go, shall we?