My gift to myself this Christmas

As the holidays approach, and I see people coming into my store to buy gifts, I came up with a scathingly brilliant idea!

I watched Good Morning America this morning and I was inspired to buy myself the perfect gift. If you haven't watched the segment on Amy Robach's double mastectomy, you can do so here, just click on this link:  http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/amy-robach-returns-good-morning-america-article-1.1538442

Amy went thru a double mastectomy 3 weeks ago and will assume chemotherapy on Dec. 16th. She is 40 years old. She found her problems in a routine mamogram which she did for a story on  Good Morning America. As an owner of a boutique and talking to many women throughout the week, I hear the same thing. "What did I do to cause this cancer?" Women think, "i'm not a smoker, I eat well, I don't take drugs, what made me get cancer?' But what we don't realize is that carcinogens are everywhere. And who knows how it got where. Sometimes it's just something that manifests from a strange gene and next thing we know it's out of control. Mamograms are important and I find myself in a precarious position. I have no health insurance. When my husband and I bought this business on Dec. 1st of 2012, we gave up everything. My husband was an ironworker in NYC and I was a corporate accountant. We wanted our own business and my husband loved my work making hats. So, we sacrificed and worked harder at this than anything else in our whole lives. The gift I gave myself for my birthday was a pap smear. I worked with my doctor and the lab to make it affordable for me. The results were fine and I thank God for that. Now, I find that I have not been for a mamogram in 3 years. I do my exams in the shower, sometimes when I wake up in the morning, but truthfully a mamogram is what I should have. So...my gift this Christmas to myself is as follows: call my Dr and have a mamogram ordered. Call the diagnostic place to see if they have a special price for 'non insured'...  and then MAKE THE APPT!  If I can get my nails and hair done, I can get a mamogram! Don't wait ladies! Your health is your wealth!

Rose Ellen A Moore

www.rcmooreunique.com