A Bright New Resource for Young Women

By Barbara Thompson, Managing Editor, Atlantic Breast Cancer Net

Last Updated: Oct 15, 2007
Articles & News : Articles : Young Women

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I knew from the prologue of Reflections of a Woman that I would like this book.  The first step of Lisa Tugnette's journey is really about foreshadow;  an outing that weaves its way throughout her story where mother, daughter, and granddaughter launch their plan of sunbathing topless during the privacy of a wilderness canoe outing.  Little did they know at the time that breast cancer was waiting 'ghostlike' in the two older women's lives. 

Tugnette's memoir could be any young woman's account of her breast cancer experience it is so real, so descriptive.  I found myself - eight years after my own diagnosis - shockingly re-linked to my memories of those early post-diagnosis years.  How many of us remember the comforting warm sheets the nurses carefully covered us with after surgery or how we found ourselves avoiding lingerie stores or magazines with busty models on the covers? Her story is haunting for anyone who has gone through the experience and for those who are newly diagnosed they will wonder how someone has gotten into their heads, so real and accurate the words.  They will say, "She is telling my story.  How can she know my thoughts, my worries, and my sadness?  She is telling my story."

Tugnette's book is a story of reflection.  She presents a theme of examining herself in the reflection of a mirror as she journeys through the first years after a breast cancer diagnosis, but also boldly shows the mental and emotional reflections of a battle-scarred person and the emergence of a wiser, stronger self.

Tugnette's purpose in writing the book is to provide "information to help women deal with the emotional grief that follows the physical loss."  Her experience becomes a roadmap for other young women diagnosed with breast cancer who struggle to make sense of loss, recovery and renewal.

On another level, Reflections of a Woman, is a book about women who have a family history of breast cancer.  Mother and daughter are diagnosed with breast cancer on the same day, as they are sadly added to the list of women in their family who have journeyed the same path before them.   Together they show that life goes on, and that over time the grief of the experience is "a little less." 

Reflections of a Woman is a bright, new resource for young women diagnosed in Canada. 

Copyright 2007 by Lisa Tugnette

Lisa's book is available exclusively at her website www.reflectionsofawoman.com and it comes in 3 formats:
 
1- Audio book (4 CD's/approx. 4hrs) read by Author $29.97
2- e-book on CD $12.97
3- e-book Instant download online $9.97 

Have comments about this article? We'd love to hear from you. Please email us at abcn@abcn.ca!