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Information about Selina's Breast Cancer
A message from Selina- "During February of 2008, I noticed some changes to my body, and after a number of tests and visits to doctors I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. I wanted to make this public both to explain some changes and slow down of my business that this will cause, and also to help spread awareness of this disease. I will try to keep this page up to date with my recovery news. Thanks to everyone for their support and understanding through this time. This is a life changing thing to happen to me, but I also know that people suffer from much worse every day. But life isn't about what bad might happen, it's about living, loving, and laughing through the bad times and treating every day as precious. Love and Magic, Selina" Selina's Journey and Treatment Updates- Selina was diagnosed with early breast cancer on the 25th of February, approximately three weeks after first noticing any symptoms and undergoing tests. She had the lump removed in surgery on the 11th of March. The surgery went as well as could be hoped and Selina is already recovering very quickly. Good news! After surgery pathology has confirmed- no cancer cells were found in Selina's lymph nodes! So it is likely the cancer will not have spread anywhere else. However, the cancer was tested as a Grade 3 cancer, being a more aggresive form, so a series of chemotherapy has been arranged to make sure Selina is 100% cancer free. The Chemotherapy will be followed by Radiotherapy and will continue through most of 2008. This will be a hard time as these treatments have many physical and emotional side effects, but is the best way to make sure Selina lives a long and healthy cancer free life and can keep painting and painting for as long as possible! Awareness and Information on Breast Cancer- Selina is hugely grateful for the Australian free health care system and how quickly and easily this has been dealt with, and the care and professionalism of all doctors she has dealt with so far in her journey (there have been a lot!). She also wishes to spread awareness of this disease to help others understand it and if needed also benefit from early detection. Selina has no known risk factors such as family history of breast cancer, and is much younger than the normal age for breast cancer cases. It just goes to show this can happen to anyone.Statistically as many as 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer during their lives. All women over 20 years old, and even younger, should perform regular self examinations. If you're unsure how, ask your doctor, or find an online tutorial (eg http://cms.komen.org/komen/AboutBreastCancer/Resources/InteractiveTools/BreastSelf-Exam/index.htm) Breast Cancer these days is very treatable, but the best results come from early detection. The sooner it is discovered the easier it will be to remove and with fewer complications. For more information about Breast Cancer, please visit the very informative Cancer Council website at- http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=37 All artworks and graphics on this
website are copyright © Selina Fenech and other artists respectively. It is prohibited to
redistribute, alter or publish these images without permission. Please read Image Usage Information to learn more about copyright and Selina's Terms of Use. |
