After 7 days of blasting your social media accounts with Sarah Cocker’s Photography For a Cause event, you’ve raised $1,383.73 towards the $1,000 goal to donate to Sarah’s breast cancer treatment! 41 of you purchased a total of 83 fine art photographs. As always, I am humbled by your generosity, support and awesomeness! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Honestly, I hope we were able to help alleviate some of the stress facing Sarah and her husband, Andy, as well as raise breast cancer awareness in young women through this Photography For a Cause event.
Sarah’s Story
In Sarah’s words…
“After a weekend of tubing on a lake in Austin, I was rubbing my sore pectoral muscles and found a mass in my right breast. I immediately made an appointment with my doctor and after two weeks of tests I was diagnosed with stage IIa triple negative breast cancer in September 2016 at only 31 years of age. I finished my residency in Veterinary Internal Medicine in July 2016 and had only been practicing as an Internist for a couple of months before being diagnosed. I had plans to marry my fiancé, Andy, in March 2017. Since being diagnosed, we decided to get married at the courthouse in downtown San Diego and push our bigger ceremony until after all of my treatments are completed. I have undergone two rounds of chemotherapy and have about 4.5 months of chemotherapy left. Surgery will be scheduled about 4-6 weeks after finishing chemotherapy to remove what is left of the tumor and then radiation will follow. The entire process should take about a year.”
In Andy’s words…
“Sarah was recently diagnosed with stage IIa ductal carcinoma (breast cancer that has not spread). She has been poked and prodded and scanned and biopsied on a nearly daily basis for 3 weeks straight to come to the final diagnosis. It has been excruciating to watch her go through all of this while there is nothing I can do to take away all of the pain, discomfort or fear that she is experiencing. All I can do is be with her and help her to get through this the best that I can.
We moved up our wedding to a small ceremony at the courthouse in downtown San Diego ahead of the start of Sarah’s chemotherapy treatment on 10/18. We were able to get both of our families out for the ceremony and we are so grateful to all of them for what they have done for us and the support they have given us. We still plan to have a more formal ceremony, but it isn’t certain if it can still happen when we originally planned it or if it will be delayed.
We would also like to thank all of our friends and family who have helped Sarah get to the doctor when I haven’t been able to, been so understanding with her and my work schedule and who have sent gifts, prayers and good thoughts our way over the past 2 weeks. It has been so amazing the outpouring of support that we have received. Sarah’s prognosis is quite good with the stage of cancer and the chemotherapy regimen that she has started. While it is a very scary thing to have to go through, we have much to be hopeful and grateful about.”
Sarah’s Recommended Breast Cancer Awareness Websites!
www.nationalbreastcancer.org
www.youngsurvival.org
ww5.komen.org
Breast Cancer Awareness!
- In 2016, there will be 246,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,450 breast cancer deaths. ~ ww5.komen.org
- Women ages 15-54 die more frequently from breast cancer than any other cancer. ~ National Cancer Institute
- Compared to older women, young women generally face more aggressive cancers and lower survival rates. ~ American Cancer Society
- One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. ~ www.nationalbreastcancer.org
- Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool by the National Cancer Institute. Knowledge is power!
- Each year, approximately 70 thousand men and women age 15-39 are diagnosed with cancer in the US. Breast Cancer is the most common cancer for women in this age group. ~ National Cancer Institute
- On average, every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes. ~ www.nationalbreastcancer.org
- Over 2.8 million breast cancer survivors are alive in the United States today. ~ www.nationalbreastcancer.org
While Brisa was finishing her third year of her internal medicine residency at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists, Sarah was one of the interns. Brisa and I were both floored by Sarah’s intelligence, easy-going yet determined nature and her ability to not take things too seriously. When we found out about her recent diagnosis, we wanted to help her out in any way that we could! We understand the difficulties of dealing with huge student loan debt with health issues and so hopefully this Photography For a Cause event will help Sarah immensely! Brisa and I are incredibly grateful for support, encouragement and love!
Sarah wants to remind you that “everyone needs to feel their boobs!” Thanks so much for supporting Sarah’s journey and for raising breast cancer awareness in young women!
I’m hoping to host another Photography For a Cause event early in 2017! Thanks again for everything everyone!
~ Chris
Top 5 Selling Fine Art Photographs from this Photography For a Cause!
Check out my latest TOP TEN! post…TOP TEN Reasons Why I am Thankful for Photography!
Check out my latest Dear La Brisa post…Dear Photographers: “How To Prepare For Your First Wedding” By Chris Hsieh!
Interested in scheduling your Wedding or Portrait Session with me? Want to separate your business from your competition via The Why Experience? Fill out my Contact Me form by clicking HERE because I’d love to welcome you to the La Brisa Family!