With over 3 million women battling breast cancer today everywhere you turn there is a mother daughter sister or friend who has been affected by breast cancer.

Breast cancer is not just a disease that strikes at women. It strikes at the very heart of who we are as women: how others perceive us how we perceive ourselves how we live work and raise our families-or whether we do these things at all.

I have to admit like so many women I always knew there was a chance. But like so many women I never thought it would be me. I never thought I'd hear those devastating words: 'You have breast cancer.'

Against the beautiful and the clever and the successful one can wage a pitiless war but not against the unattractive: then the millstone weighs on the breast.

Breast cancer deaths in America have been declining for more than a decade. Much of that success is due to early detection and better treatments for women. I strongly encourage women to get a mammogram.

Suppressed grief suffocates it rages within the breast and is forced to multiply its strength.

To smile at the jest which plants a thorn in another's breast is to become a principal in the mischief.

And I thought I would just share with you what science says today about silicone breast implants. If you have them you're healthier than if you don't. In fact there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and in fact they make you healthier.

If you have a friend or family member with breast cancer try not to look at her with 'sad eyes.' Treat her like you always did just show a little extra love.

I have a new found respect for women who have been through breast cancer and this surgery.