Hi everyone, I would like to say “Thank You” to each of you who have been praying for me. I deeply appreciate you taking the time from your busy schedules to pray for me. For those who may not know, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in September. It turned out to be three different types of cancer, including invasive carcinoma. I had a mastectomy on Monday, October 28. I am doing well. I know this is very personal; the reason I share this with each of you is also very personal. Each one of you are very important to me. Your well-being is important to me. We all have things in our lives that we cannot control … cancer is one of them. We need God’s help; we need his merciful arms around us. I need to share with you that I should have been checking … checking much more often. I should have done better. A strong advocate of self-checking is our very own Teresa Hammond. Teresa is one of the many women who fight this battle daily. I write this column from my heart to ask each one of you to please check often … even our gentlemen, but especially our women. Please check often; it’s amazing what can be done to help us. Please don’t do as I did … please do not be afraid to self-check. It was actually by accident that I noticed I had a large lump in July. I picked up my hairbrush to reach up to brush my hair and accidentally hit my right side; I went to my doctor. Tests took a bit of time; I was diagnosed in September. I wish I had checked more often. It can save our lives. Thank you for reading this. May God bless us all.