ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!

Hot damn I made it! I'm 40 today... and it feels SO GOOD to be alive.

As usual, I'm awake in the middle of the night because these doggone hot flashes are giving me fits and my sleeping pills make me nauseous.

I spent a portion of yesterday in prayer and reflection. Just thinking about the past 40 years; the good times, the bad times and all that other stuff in the middle.

I'm here. My heart is overflowing right now because... I'm still here.

I'm feeling a lot of things but I'm finding it difficult to articulate them right now. So... I'll just say that I am ever so grateful for every person who helped to get me to this point. Family, friends... medical staff... strangers on twitter. (laughs) All of you.

THANK YOU. (from the bottom of my heart)

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The Susan G. Komen Foundation will be holding a 5k Race for the Cure in DC on Saturday, June 6th. I've signed up and created a team -- DC Sistagirls. We're going to walk 5 kilometers to raise money and bring more awareness to breast cancer. I'm accepting donations on behalf of the team and myself from now until race day. If you would like to donate, or join the team and walk with us, please click this link to donate or register.

The research for a cure and for better treatments is necessary. The treatment I received is more advanced than the treatment another woman may have received 10 years ago. And hopefully 10 years from now, treatment won't be necessary because we will have a cure. But until then... millions of men and women are counting on us to help them navigate this scary process.

Please help.