My name is Marquex Faulkner. I first found out my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. At first I cried, my understanding of cancer was it was terminal…my Mom would die. Then I did what I did best, what I was good at; I started to research. I found out that not everyone dies from breast cancer, she could beat this. I learned the lingo and had questions to ask her oncologist. After a lumpectomy followed by a mastectomy and chemo, the cancer was in remission. A few years later, it was back. I again did my thing, started researching and asking her doctors tons of questions about the cancer and her treatment options. I thought I was getting a lot of information, and I was; however, there was so much information and breast cancer had so many “unknowns” that I truly didn’t understand how much I didn’t know.
After remission, treatment, remission, the cancer came back. This last time it had metastasized. A whole lot happened between her initial diagnosis in 2001 and when she passed in 2012. Looking back, I realize how much we didn’t exactly know. As her co-survivor (a term I didn’t know existed until 3 months before she passed), I thought my job was to be strong. It’s my nature to collect information, so that is also what I did. But learning about cancer, and particularly triple negative metastatic breast cancer, was like jumping into the ocean. You think since you can swim you will be okay, at least for a short while, but you quickly feel overwhelmed.
I decided to start this blog and foundation to help others. To help educate a mother, a daughter, a son, a husband, a friend who finds out they or someone they love has breast cancer. By no means do I have all then answers, but hopefully I can provide even one piece of information to help someone else on this journey. And that is how I will honor my Mother.
Lightning's Flower 