{"id":1967,"date":"2015-08-19T17:58:12","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T00:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/turning-heads.org\/?p=1967"},"modified":"2015-10-15T15:54:13","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T22:54:13","slug":"cindy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/turning-heads.org\/cindy\/","title":{"rendered":"Cindy"},"content":{"rendered":"

My name is Cindy Fonseca and I am 24 years old, recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I have always been an outdoorsy, athletic, optimistic, and positive person. I grew up playing sports and still love to play them on my free time. I enjoyed hiking and going to the beach. I always look for the good in people and figure things will always get better. <\/p>\n

It has been a long journey with cancer so far. I just finished my last dose of chemo and have a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction scheduled within the next month. Time seems to go by so slow during chemo treatment. You have so much time on your hands but half of the time you are so fatigued or sick you can\u2019t really do much. Personally for me, the hardest part is not being able to be active like I used to be. I find myself so out of shape that just walking up the stairs exhaust me. I really miss being active and fit. <\/p>\n

Being diagnosed with cancer is an extremely emotional experience. The beginning is the worst part since you are in the dark about what is next. You don\u2019t know anything about your cancer and you start to think the worst. Cancer has been the worst experience my family and I have been through. Although we suffer from sadness, anger, being scared, and depression, we have emerged with lots of love. Cancer has brought us all closer together and allowed us to express the love we feel for each other. Having a strong support system is essential in dealing with cancer. My good friends have been there for me from the beginning and others have reached out to express their love and support for me. My boyfriend and I have grown closer throughout this experience. He is the center of my support system and I can\u2019t imagine having to go through this without him.<\/p>\n

Hearing you will lose your hair during treatment is heartbreaking. It was one of my biggest fears. I dreaded the day my hair would start falling out and shed many tears over it. I had decided to grow my hair out long right before my diagnosis. Losing your hair on top of all the other suffering we face as cancer patients is the tipping point for most of us. After a week of losing my hair and crying I finally got the courage to just shave it all off. I was prepared with a wig and scarfs to hide my bald head. After a while I started to get used to the fact that I was bald. I never wore anything on my head at home and would accidently go outside bald and run back into the house. After my wonderful experience with Turning Heads I am now able to go outside bald and feel good about myself. People are always bound to stare but I am not concerned about what they think because being bald is beautiful. My experience with Turning Heads was one of the best experiences of my life and I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with amazing people such as Stacy, Olga and Jane.<\/p>\n

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