Seeking help from the Breast Cancer Community in SoCal

m2doc

My name is Mindy McKoin and I will be entering my third and final year of graduate school at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA.  I am studying to get my MFA in Film Production and am concentrating in the nonfiction/documentary genre.  I am starting to prep for my thesis and was contacting someone thru this discussion board because I would like to do my documentary thesis on breast cancer. I was seeing if anyone would be willing to help in the SoCal area?   I feel this would be something that I can do to contribute for something near and dear to my heart and for this great cause!  Below is a little about myself & what/why I want to do this.

In my family, we have no history of cancer until this past December when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  The week after this past Thanksgiving my mom went to see a doctor about an injury she had occurred a month prior that seemed routine and should be healed by now.  What was a minor injury (just a box dropping on her chest), turned out to be breast cancer.  She was told that the cancer was small (seem to be caught early).  The best option for her situation was to have the mass removed, the lymph nodes checked and radiation afterwards.  Then, she should be good to go.  My mom had her surgery but unfortunately she had more cancer than the test (mammogram) showed and her lymph nodes under her armpit tested positive for cancer (11 were removed and 4 were cancerous). The doctor was really shocked and upset because he thought the cancer was smaller than what he found and that the lymph nodes would test negative.  While he was removing, he got to the point where he could not tell if it was just normal tissue or cancerous tissue in the breast.  We had to wait on the pathology report to see if she might have to have another surgery to remove her left breast entirely. We found out that mom has aggressive stage 3 breast cancer.  She was recommended by the surgeon to have her left breast removed and for preventative measures she decided to have the right breast removed too.  Being an only child from a single parent household, I stayed back in Louisiana since December from her first surgery to be her caretaker.  She finished chemotherapy in June and is in her 2^nd week of radiation.  

In my mom’s honor, this documentary will depict the strength and resilience of women as they fight against breast cancer.  Breast cancer is an ugly disease that tries to kill your body, kill your emotions and kill your spirit.  However, horrible this may be for women and their loved ones to endure; they are never alone in this fight.  Battling breast cancer is one of the toughest times in a woman’s life.  During that time she gains love, support, prayers and a new community that she can lean on for knowledge and self-awareness. Unlike my mom, who was given a pamphlet to read when first diagnosed, I would like every woman who has been recently diagnosed with breast cancer to be given a DVD of my film when they meet with their oncologist for the first time.  This battle against breast cancer is a testament that there is truly nothing a woman cannot do or get thru! 

I welcome any help and/or feedback!  Thank you! 

cycle-path

There's a group called Breast Cancer Solutions http://www.bcsurvivors.org/ that you may want to contact. Their main focus is helping low-income BC patients in Southern California through treatment. They help find housing, assist with transportation, find lower-cost treatments, and anything else a patient needs. One of their board members is a former client, and most of the other board members are women who, while they didn't need financial help, are survivors themselves. A very interesting group.

m2doc

Thank you for the information cycle-path!  I have emailed and called but had to leave a message at their office.  No luck yet!