Rhonda Witharm Hayward, California United States Amazon Heart Thunder United States 2004, 2005 and 2007 Australia 2005 and 2009 Experienced Rider   Click Here to Donate Now!

As a young girl, I spent years in the girl scouts preparing myself for lifes' trials and learned how to survive in the outdoors. I was a camp counselor at a high sierra camp, slept outside and went on back pack trips. I grew up and became a Police Officer.
I felt that I was prepared to handle just about anything. Then, in 1997, just two days after Christmas and while I was waiting for the delivery of a brand new BMW motorcycle, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. That, I wasn’t prepared for. Two years later, I had surgery on the other side. I’m still fighting.

The diagnosis was a shock to me because I did not feel sick and I had no family history of breast cancer. I was the first, but not the last. To my great sadness, last year my older sister was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Cancer has changed my perception of what is important in life and what is not. It is also a wakeup call, a reminder to be an active participant in life rather than a bystander.

For the past 9 years, I’ve worked as a technician in Berkeley National Laboratory’s Physics Division. The Laboratory’s research in breast cancer has given me hope for the future.

A couple of years ago, Monica Friedlander wrote an article about a Changing Gear’s up coming ride for the Berkeley Lab View.

In the following paragraph, Monica describes a survivor’s attitude.

“Their spirit is what Witharm calls “an Amazon warriors’ attitude”.
Greek mythology is full of tales of beautiful female warriors thundering across battlefields, battling Olympian gods, fighting hard and dying in war. Breast cancer survivors embody that spirit, embracing life with almost superhuman courage, endurance and determination. Some of them will win, some will lose the battle, but all will give it the fight of their lives.”

Help us support these women warriors in their battle with breast cancer.

Thank you,

Rhonda Witharm

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