[Adriana Mangus]

I DON'T KNOW what to believe.

My mother just passed away at 87 y/o. She was stressed out all her life, as the breadwinner of the family, she was in charge of 7 of us, 5 of us her children plus my aunt's 2 children. Yes, my mother raised them as well.

She would worked an average of 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. She did this for at least until she was 65+ y/o.

Now, the one thing she did right is to stay away from alcohol and cigarretes, other than that, I don't believe she had the best of a diet--black coffee in the morning with a pastry, light lunch-- and she would eat a big meal at night, mostly meat, potatoes and again--coffee.

Her heart wouldn't go any longer--the cause of death is listed as; having succumbed to a heart condition--in short, a vascular disease.

Is the stress different now than before? How does One differentiate the good stress from the bad strees?

Is stress necesarry in your life? What amount of stress?
How to cope with stress? Are we all different, yet so similar, that stress is a contributing factor to breast cancer for all type of women?

I have no answers. I have been stressed for periods of time in my life; divorce from my daughter's father, having to raise my daughter alone for years, highly stressful work environment for years and years. I also have worked since 17 years of age.

I'm the only one in the family with cancer. My oldest sister just turned 64, 9-15. She's healthy as a horse.

One day in the future there will be answers as to why some of us end up with cancer. Hopefully our children and grandchildren will benefit from these investigational researchs being done at UCLA and at the hospitals around the country and the world.

Just wanted to share.....

Adriana