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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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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 …read more

Don’t forget the current pink ribbon giveaway: a Pure Romance Gift Collection (follow that link to enter)!

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more