Breast cancer has turned in the last years in a world wide phenomenon. Unfortunately, more and more women are affected by this form of cancer. It is no longer a local or national problem; it has become an international disturbing situation. Without being too pessimistic the truth is that the numbers grow every year and, despite awareness campaigns and events there are still many women who have no idea how important it is to fight the disease from early beginnings. Breast cancer found in an early stage is highly treatable. The change is on the patient's side.
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Good hearted people have created international structures in order to draw attention. Symbols and logos and specific, let’s call them street movements have the purpose to make a statement. More and more patients and survivors get involved in all this. Their success is measured in lives saved and survivor to tell their stories. Organizations, corporations, famous or simple people joined this common ideal. They have built together symbols, gave them identities and a color. The official color is pink and the official symbol is a ribbon. Great combination.


The pink ribbon is no doubt the most important symbol of the fight against this cancer. Millions and millions of people wear it as their way of saying: let’s fight this and win! Stories of survivors back up their initiatives and spread the word around. The story of the ribbon goes back in

In October, the breast cancer awareness day among the events there is one event called Global Illumination. Guilty for this initiative is Estee Lauder Corporation. From them came the idea to illuminate in pink light different land marks all over the world. More than a dozen buildings, important structures from different countries were pink for a little while.

The Harbour Bridge in Sydney, City Hall Square in Seoul, Tokyo Tower in Tokyo, The Angel of Peace in Munich, The Majestic Hotel in Cannes, Niagara Falls in Ontario or Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv are some of the landmarks wearing the breast cancer awareness color. The intention was to underline the importance that mammography screening have in an early diagnosis. Another point on the agenda was to remind the world hoe important research is in finding better treatment, prevention treatment and possible cures for breast cancer.


October also hosts pink days. During these days people organize charitable events, parties with a pink theme. For example, the employees of a company must wear pink clothing or accessories when they go to work. All the money raised goes to research or support centers for breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer awareness color starts to really make a difference all around the world. More and more pink becomes synonym with breast cancer fight. A fight each and every one of us should join. Think pink!

In plain language breast cancer is a tumor localized in the breast tissues. This form of cancer appears to both male and female. However, cases of breast cancer to males are extremely rare. The disease appears to women usually after menopauses. Antecedents that may lead to this cancer are: cases of breast cancer in the family, a first late pregnancy, obesity, alcohol consumption, and certain benign tumors. Breast cancer is one of the diseases that has grown in popularity over the years.
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Cancer and implicitly breast cancer is not a disease discovered in the last centuries. The history of the disease goes back in time. Along centuries doctors have tried to find better treatment and a cure. Research has evolved a lot but not enough.


The name cancer was first used by the father of medicine, Hippocrates. He was the first to use this Greek word in relation with tumors from different parts of the body. Cancer was called “karkinos”. The first terms used basically described a crab. For Hippocrates a tumor looked very much alike a crab. Even though he was the first to name the disease, he does not get credit for discovering it.

In order to see who was the first to discover breast cancer we must go to Egypt in 1500 B.C.. This is how far the history of the disease goes. Documents found there confirm 8 cases of breast tumors. The document is called the Edwin Smith Papyrus and it is just a small piece of an Egyptian textbook. The subject of these ancient textbooks is trauma surgery. They could be called early medical literature. Edwin Smith is the one who found the valuable manuscript and bought it from Mustapha Aga, a dealer in 1862 in the city Luxor, Egypt. He realized the importance of this papyrus and tried to translate it. However, the manuscript was not published. After his death the daughter donated it to the New York Historical Society. This written evidence talk about the tumors, about treatment, about practices related and cure.


The method they used was cauterization. This practice means destroying the tissue affected by the tumor with an instrument named “fire drill”. No evidence supports the idea that Egyptians made a difference or knew the difference between benign and malignant tumors. They believed that the tumors were caused by the Gods. Ancient Greek doctors did not know that much, either. Hippocrates, for example thought that there are four elements in the body structure: yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm. He saw in cancer a direct consequence of black bile excess.

Modern medicine knows more than four elements constituting the body structure. Unfortunately, the first person to discover breast cancer and doctors nowadays have one thing in common: an unknown cure.

General Information:

San Antonio Breast Cancer Foundation has the mission to provide information about breast cancer research. The symposium has grown from one day regional to four day program and it has an international audience of academic and also private researchers and physicians from all over the world ( about 90 countries such as - Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada ,Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras ,Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland , Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Trinidad And Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Indies).

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The symposium has the purpose to achieve a sort of balance between basic research, clinical and translational research through a forum for communication, interaction and education for researchers, for those which are interested in breast cancer and for health professionals. The scientific program of the symposium consists of invited lectures, poster presentation, selected slides, and case discussions by experts, chosen from the submitted abstracts. In general a session takes about 2-3 hours (for slide presentations are allotted 10 min and they are each followed by 5 min of discussion / poster sessions are 2 hours in duration).

The symposium is primarily for academic physicians, private physicians and researchers which are involved in breast cancer surgical, radiation oncology, gynecologic, medical and like I said above, also directed towards health care professionals.



The administration functions of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium are to the operations office at University Plaza Building, 7526 Louis Pasteur, Room 121, San Antonio, Texas 78229.

Symposium Contact: - Mr. Rich Markow - MC 8224 ,7703 Floyd Curl Drive

San Antonio, TX 78229-3900 Tel: 210-567-6070 , Fax: 210-450-6072 Email: sabcs@uthscsa.edu / Website Address: www.sabcs.org (the future meetings are in 6-10 December 2011, 4-8 December 2012 and 10-14 December 2013).



San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Committee :
Symposia Director: Rich Markow - UT Health Science Center - San Antonio, TX
Co-Directors: Charles Coltman, - UT Health Science Center - San Antonio, TX and Kent Osborne - Dan Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, TX

Executive Committee:
Carlos Arteaga - Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center - Nashville, TN
Gary Chamness - Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, T
Charles Coltman, - UT Health Science Center - San Antonio, TX
Margaret Foti - American Association for Cancer Research - Philadelphia, PA
Ismail Jatoi - UT Health Science Center - San Antonio, TX
Adrian Lee - Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, TX
Kent Osborne - Dan Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, TX
Peter Ravdin -UT Health Science Center - San Antonio, TX
Saraswati Sukumar - John Hopkins Oncology Center - Baltimore, MD
Ian Thompson - UT Health Science Center - San Antonio, TX
Program Coordinator: Gary Chamness, Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, TX

How can be it be administrated? Taxotere is used in specialized centers of chemotherapy (witch are using drugs to treat cancer), under the medical supervision which is qualified in the administration of chemotherapy; Taxotere is administrated in the infusion for one hour every three weeks. The dose, the treatment duration and the drugs, they all depend on the type of cancer which is being treated.

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Taxotere is used only when the number of neutrophils (a type of white cells of the blood) is at least 1.500 cells/mm3.

Dexamethasone (an anti –inflammatory drug) should be administered to the patient with a day before the treatment in case of prostate cancer and a day or two days after treatment in case of others types of cancer.



Taxotere – mechanism of action. The active substance of Taxotere, docetaxel, belongs to a group of medicines used to cancer, known as taxanes. Docetaxel blocks the ability of cells to destroy the intern “skeleton” that allows their division and multiplication. If the skeleton is not destroyed, the cells can not divide and they eventually will die. Docetaxel affects also the non cancerous cells, such as blood cells, which can lead to side effects.

Taxotere was studied on a total of about 3000 patients with breast cancer, 1900 patients with cell lung cancer, on about 1000 patients with prostate cancer, 445 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and 897 patents with cancer located in the head area and neck. In most of these studies, Taxotere was used in combination with other treatments against cancer and then it was compared with different treatments or different combinations of the same treatment but without Taxotere. The main measures of efficacy were the number of patients who responded to treatment, the survival time of the patients without the disease worsening and the survival duration in general.

In all five types of cancer, the addition of Taxotere to other cancer treatments increased the number of patients who responded to treatment, the survival time of the patients without the disease to go worse, and the survival duration in general. Used to treat breast cancer, Taxotere was at least effective and sometimes even more effective than other drugs with which it was compared.



What are the risks associated with Taxotere ?

The most common side effects associated with Taxotere (seen in more than 1 patient out of 10) are:
-neutrophilia (low number of neutrophils) and fever neutrophilia
- anemia (low number of red blood cells)
- thrombocytopenia (low number of platelets)
- peripheral sensory neuropathy (the damage of the nerves in hands and feet)
- peripheral motor neuropathy (nerves damage  causing difficulty in coordinating movements)
- dysgeusia (altered taste)
- dyspnea (breathing difficulty)
- stomatitis (inflammation of mucous membrane of the mouth)
- diarrhea
- nausea (feeling sick)
- vomiting
- alopecia (hair loss)
- skin reactions, nail impairment
- myalgia (muscle pain)
- lack of appetite
- infections
- fluid retention
- asthenia (weakness)
- pain
- hypersensitivity (allergic reactions).

These side effects may be more severe when Taxotere is used in combination with others medicines to treat cancer. For a full list of all side effects associated with Taxotere, see the prospectus.

Breast cancer is a problem or a risk that any women have. Lifestyle that modernization requires, chaotic diet, the stress, lack of physical exercises and environmental or hereditary factors, predispose many women to this undesirable disease called breast cancer. Doctors from all over the world tried to find out what causes this disease and how it can be prevented, so that there were highlighted few things that will reduce greatly the risk of breast cancer. Here is the minimum action that you should follow to have a healthy life.

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1. Nutrition is the main weapon. Unfortunately, what we ingest often reflects on our health. It is not a mystery that the nutrition may represent an important risk factor in the development of many diseases. To prevent cancer, your diet should contain:

- chicken, beef or fish
- soybean (contains phytoestrogens)
- fruits and vegetables
- eggs and cheese
- propolis and flaxseeds (the latter ones contains phyoestrogens)
- supplements of vitamin D (taken together with calcium)
- cereals

2. Avoid eating complex fat. A healthy diet is indicated in preventing the breast cancer, and it should not contain complex fat found in butter, margarine, pork, cream, mutton, etc.



3. Be very careful about extra pounds. Studies have highlighted a link between excess weight and increasing the frequency of breast cancer appearance. More specifically, it seems that obesity is one of the favoring  factors of breast cancer, precisely for this reason you should control your weight (5 kg above average are allowed), so since the first signs of gaining weight, you can take precautions (change the regime not use drastic diets or starvation).and / or appeal to nutritionist. Your health is above everything. If the financial factor is an obstacle, think how many charges and how much suffering you will have in case of a disease, so it is worthy the investment in prevention.

4. Avoid alcohol. British researchers have shown the higher incidence of breast cancer in women who daily consume alcohol, so as to prevent breast cancer, it is better to summarize it, drinking only a glass of alcohol in few days.

5. Physical exercises are the strength pillars for the health. Besides the many benefits that physical exercise offers, they also contribute to chase fatigue, to body oxygenation, fats burn and reducing the pounds excess. (also, increases vascular perfusion improving circulation in all tissues, including the mammary gland).



6. Avoid sunlight. I am sure that bronze is appreciated by all women but you should try to avoid the topless sunbathe, because the sunlight have a special effect on glandular cells. Even if you use a high protection cream (which is required in these days when there is almost no ozone), do not take off your bath bra.

7. Weekly examine your breasts. Somewhere in front of a mirror, you must examine your breasts. The self-examination made regularly is important for early detection of any abnormalities that may locate in the breasts. For women between ages 45 and 50 it is required to follow a mammogram annually. Also, it is recommended to follow clinical examination regularly because there exists the possibility that you have not seen anything to self-examination of the breasts.

Breast cancer logo

(the pink ribbon logo has been for over fifteen years

the international symbol of breast cancer awareness).

IBC = inflammatory breast cancer which is very rare. It is important to distinguish inflammatory breast cancer from the others types of breast cancer because there are many major differences in treatment, prognosis and surely in its symptoms. For example, - inflammatory – refers to changes in the tissues of the body which can be caused by irritation, infection or injury; this reaction includes warmth, redness, swelling in that parts of the body and these are reactions caused by increased blood flow and also by the buildup of the white cells from the body.

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Like I said above, this type of breast cancer is very rare but very aggressive. The statistics show that in the United States are 1% women with inflammatory breast cancer, of all breast cancer diagnosed.

Beside the different symptoms, there are also another few differences like that rare will happen to cause a lump which it may be possible to be unseen performing a mammogram and this is why it could be harder to diagnose; another difference would be the tend to occur more in young women and the statistics show that the risk is higher to the African American women than to white women.

Signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer can include breast bump, itching, a dark, red, pink colored area, ridges and thickened skin areas, feeling warmth to the breast, retraction of the nipple, breast pain, etc.



How aggressive is the inflammatory breast cancer?

Because it grows faster then any other cancer, it will also spread faster to the nearby lymph nodes and so, when it will be found, all these would have been happened already. Doctors are using often “5 –year survival rates” when they discuss the prognosis in people with cancer and this rate refers to the people who live at least 5 years after they been diagnosed (it is just a percentage because many of this people live longer).

The treatment for inflammatory breast cancer usually starts with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is treating cancer with drugs and they can be in pill form (swallowed) but they can be injected too. Chemotherapy is actually used to reach and to destroy the cancer cells, and is considered systemic therapy. The use of chemotherapy before the surgery, is called neoadjutant chemo but there is radiotherapy witch is used whether or not surgery is done, to slow down the disease.



Brest radiation is usually made once a day for 6 weeks but in some cases twice a day and it can be followed by the systemic treatment which is known as adjutant therapy. (if the cancer cells have estrogen receptors it can include hormonal therapy with tamoxifen or inhibitors, and if the cancer is HER2 – positive, trastuzumab).

“Breast cancer is a lesson about life and death” - There exists a high connection between soul and body and I can say this also from the specialist point of view. The patients who had a prolonged emotional stress, a continuous state of sadness over the years, they are weakening their immune system through this suffering.

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The sadness greatly suppresses the immune system, because it releases in the body substances which are similar to morphine: endorphins and encephalons, which are designed to help the body to pass the emotional stresses. When we suffer, our minds makes the neurotransmitters go out acting on breathing, heart and on the digestion.

That is why when we go through a heavy suffering we also feel physically sick and we lose weight. Even if we have in our body enough white cells to fight for us, in the periods of suffering, body is exposed and vulnerable, and the tumor cells profit of this and they increase fast. Sometimes it takes only two or three months until cancer reaches metastasis. Not to mention that long term stress, especially in women, produces an imbalance in the pituitary level, which is the queen of all glands, where the hormones (estrogen, progesterone) are and it generates an excessive estrogen secretion, which feeds any tumor cells.

So we must to be optimistic and never lose hope, to fight against any disease with the thought of a succeed. I selected some quotes of the people who have won in the battle with cancer with hope, optimism, love and with the power of God. "A fight is life; so you fight/Loving it, missing it./Will leave those who want to fight,/And cowardly ones complain and die..."

“Honey, I pray for you to have growth in everything and go well with your health as you go well with your soul”.
“Today I am convinced that nobody loses anybody, because nobody owns anybody. This is true experience of freedom: to have the most important thing in the world, without possessing”.

“The one who does not believe that the healing is coming from the inside, he will be not healed by anyone”.
“Health is not appreciated only when the disease appears”.
“Health resembles the peace.  You can enjoy it only if you know to defend it”.

“The breast cancer diagnosis is one of the worst things that could happen to a woman, but with hope and with the love of God and of my family, I healed. This power it can move even the mountains from their place, you just have to believe it and fight for it”.
“Health is not everything, but everything without health is nothing”.

“There is nothing else like a woman when she wants to see her kids growing up. I fought for this with all my hope and with everything I could, because I could only imagine a future beside my family and could not imagine death”.
“The desire to be healed is the beginning of the healing”.
“Not because of the difficult things we don’t have courage, but because we do not have courage, things are difficult”.
“If we could realize how powerful our thoughts are we will never have bad thoughts again”.

The breast cancer is a disease really common in women, in contradistinction to lung cancer which remains the most common disease in both, men and women. What is breast cancer exactly?
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It is known that every cell possesses in the genetic code, information that controls the ability to multiply when the body needs require: development from childhood to adult, then aging process, physiological situations ( hormonal cycle, pregnancy, breast feeding or situations in which tissues must recover as a result of accidents (hitting, crushing, cutting, etc).

In some circumstances, due to conditions which belong to the inconsistency of the information (genetic factors), external physical affections, chemical or biological, the mechanism of the cell multiplication is disturbed totally.

These cells multiply chaotic, completely destroys the place from which they come, as then they colonize other regions (this process is called metastasis). Finally, the body is overwhelmed by the number and consequences of these colonies – metastases and assigns causing death. All these steps cause enormous suffering: pain, bleeding, the breakdown of the vital functions (respiration, digestion, circulation, reproduction, etc).

A recent study shows that one in eight women is suffering from breast cancer. The first signs of the existence of the breast cancer are when it appears some painful breast nodules or bumps. With breast cancer is not kidding! When the first symptoms will appear, go to the doctor until is not too late. If it is no treated, the consequences can be devastating. You can lose your breast or even worse, you can die.

The first issues: the breast size or shape, changes; wrinkles or bumps of the skin. For an easier observation of these issues you have to look in the mirror under a bright light. The breast cancer is seen more often in women over 35 years but you can start checking for even since the age of 25. It is better to track the breast cancer since the first stage and so you won’t risk running out of life. The doctors recommended an inspection every six months.

Methods to prevent the breast cancer - Knowing at least few of the factors that favor the breast cancer, we can intervene to reduce risk. The genetic factors are not identified yet by laboratory tests but in the near future, will be available some test to tell us if we are exposed to risks. However, if we analyze the family tree and we find among the forerunners more than one breast cancer, we must consider as a person at risk; especially in this situation, a lifestyle change can prevent the outbreak of the breast cancer.

Keeping an ideal weight, a rich nutrition with fruits and vegetables which contain substances that stabilize the cell, exercise, birth and breastfeeding of at least 2 children before you turn 28-30 years, no smoking, minimizing radiation of any type, using hormonal contraceptive only under a specialist control. These are some measures of the lifestyle, easy to be "implemented" , that may decrease the risk of breast cancer by more than 60%.

Cancer therapies - American Society for Cancer Oncology (ASCO), is the largest global congress dedicated to the new drugs against cancer. The event brings together every year about 30000 specialists. Last year edition (May 29 – June 2, 2009), held in Orlando (Florida), were introduced vaccines, inhibitors gene and anti-hormonal products.
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The therapeutic strategies against cancer, the tests that enable optimal drug administration are a step forward. In fact, we are getting more close of the treatment personalization. Thus, when we talk about breast cancer, genomics allows separation of this disease in multiple subtypes. There are carriers women of genes mutations that show familial predisposition of this type of cancer ( BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes ). Women are affected by this disease called “triple negative cancer”.

This group of patients does not receive any hormone treatment which helps to control the other tumors of the breast. In fact, for these patients, the tumor is generated by cells that do not represent receptors of estrogen hormones and neither progesterone receptors.

These cells have, in fact, a receptor for epidermal growth factor (EGF). A first conclusion is : does not help at all the administration of the herceptin treatment, a blocker of this receptor, says Professor Dominique Maraninchi, the president of the National Cancer Institute of France.

Instead, a new class of drugs – inhibitors baptized PARP – might be useful in these difficult cases. They have the ability to block the action of the enzyme, having an important role in the mechanism for recovery of the DNA malignancies tumors. Preliminary studies show that these substances are making better the chemotherapy action.

A clinical trial presented at ASCO Congress, performed on a sample of 116 women with “triple negative” breast cancer in an advanced form or the disease, shows that patients who received PARP, in addition to classic chemotherapy, survived on average more than nine months compared with 5.7 months for the classic therapy group.

So, it seems that an almost useless drug in a form of cancer, may prove that it is effective in another type of cancer. Herceptin, which can be used only in 20% of breast cancers, can make a “career” in the treatment of the stomach cancer. This molecule blocks the receiving surface of malignant cells, a recipient protein of the epidermal growth factors that accelerate the multiplication of the cells. It is known that certain forms of cancer (ENT, lung or stomach) are often linked with the proliferation of these receptors.

Another study sponsored by the Roche Company, on 3807 patients with stomach cancer in the stage of metastasis, shows that 22% of patients had high levels of these receptors. The administration of Herceptin in addition to chemotherapy for the 594 patients showed an average increase in survival from 11 months to 13.8 months. At the ASCO congress were presented also several therapeutic vaccines, including : BiovaxD – against non-hodgkinian lymphoma and other Biosciences against metastasis melanoma.

If you are a woman, certainly this story will wake you interest, which is one of the thousands of cases that are around you. If you are a man, certainly you should know about this story so you will be more sensitive with your mother, grandmother, sister, girlfriend or with your wife.
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She decided to talk right on the eve of Easter which is a period of soul retreats, when we are called to raise prayers, when we need to be better with the others and more with the sadness one who are near us, sick, angry, stressed or simply those who need our support.

When I entered the room from the Institute of Oncology, I saw a woman about 60 years old, who was in the bed groaning because of pain and asking me to get closer. With an extinguished voice she implored not to reveal her name because she does not want that her friends and acquaintances to know about ordeal through she is passing by, about the fact that she is close to the margin of the grave...  she reached a moment which is close to the death.

Two years ago she discovered by chance a breast node that was diagnosed by doctors as cancer at the mammary gland; breast was removed and she was able to overcome this suffering, trough the loving husband, children and grandchildren. Following a complex treatment, apparently escaped the deadly disease. She felt good a period, she had energy and she lived the life full.

The happiness lasted until last October when she began suffering from backache, osteoporosis symptoms and disc pains... displacement. The doctor prescribed some medicines and also massages which did not help her at all; her condition became worse. Following the investigations, she found out that actually, breast tumor has developed multiple bone metastasis.

She was taken to hospital in the arms of her desperate husband who had lost all hope in the healing of his wife. “It never passed trough my mind that I will get into that. Of course, this disease is related to genotype but also of anyone’s character. All my life I had officials. It is well know that if you are seen well and deserve better, of course you also have many enemies. You are useful to “our” man only as long as you are someone in society. If do not represent anything anymore, they betray.

I was a combative person for something beautiful. I sacrificed in the truly meaning of the word. Too late I realized that in this life the charity is not important, especially for a sensitive woman.”, confessed to me the poor woman, being forced to swallow bit of red wine. Friends, colleagues... no one know her pain. She was a perfectionist, generous with everyone but she consumes the heart too much for each failure and frustration. Now she does not want to burden her friends with her suffering.

There is only family beside her. “Let us defend the psychological climate, positive thinking, to forgive and let us not revenge. Let’s us not upset on anyone, to accept people as they are, for that surely is one God. Everyone has the right to fail and to help him. You won’t change the world but you can pray for a stranger.” Our friend is a strong woman and never gave up hope, love and faith. If two months ago she needed help walking, now she walks alone. Above all, prayers to the Lord put her on her feet and after that, treatments.