Real Women, Real Stories

Whether you are facing a life-threatening diagnosis or raising triplets, it's helpful to know you're not alone. Laugh and cry with the women featured here as they share their honest and emotional stories.

Breast Cancer My breast cancer diagnosis was delivered to me almost 20 years ago by a doctor who, in a strained, unpracticed voice, told me, "Well, the news is good...and it's also bad." His nurse-with-no-name stood grimly by my side (Ready to catch me? Hold my hand? She did neither) in his bland hospital office... Read More

Triplets There are days when I just want to cry because I feel like my house is chaos 24 hours a day. I rarely get to take a shower and sometimes don't brush my teeth until the afternoon. But really, who cares? We are not the picture of perfection, but we're happy. We have three of the happiest children I know, and that's what is important—not how clean your house is or how good you look... Read More

Heart Disease and Breast Cancer I just turned 50 and, to tell you the truth, I'm kind of surprised I made it. Celebrating this milestone was the last thing on my mind in June 2003 when I had my first heart attack and then my second, within five days of each another... Read More

Heart Disease On an early morning in June 2000 I awoke suddenly with pain in my chest and upper back. I felt like I could not take a deep breath. I wondered what was wrong with me—could it be the flu or food poisoning or an injury? I had played racquetball the night before so I thought perhaps I had bruised my ribs and back. I was 30 years old; a captain in the Army JAG Corps... Read More