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28-YEAR-OLD BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR CELEBRATES LIFE, LOVE AND MARRIAGE PLAINVILLE – March 24, 2011 – Tara Piers of Plainville might be young, but she knows a lot about fighting – and surviving. Piers is one of four local breast cancer survivors featured in the 2011 Komen Connecticut Race for the Cure campaign. She is helping to raise awareness of the disease, as Connecticut has the second highest incidence of breast cancer in the nation, while also advising women of all ages to take charge of their breast health. Tara, 28, is a two-time breast cancer survivor. She was initially diagnosed in 2006 at the age of 23 and remembers that time in her life well. After feeling a lump in her left breast herself, Tara was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. She had just applied to graduate school to pursue a career in school counseling, but those plans had to be put on hold in order to heal after a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Tara lost her hair and the one breast, “all the things that make you a woman,” she said. The next 3 years, Tara was closely monitored, going for regular mammograms. On March 5, 2010, her boyfriend John Scrivano, also of Plainville, proposed. The following Monday, Tara was diagnosed with a reoccurrence of her breast cancer, this time in her right breast. Her new fiancé by her side for the diagnosis. She likes to think of the engagement as “a bit of sunshine in a darker time.” Tara was treated again and underwent a second mastectomy, and has remained cancer free since. Now, she is preparing for her next journey: her walk down the aisle on April 15th. “It’s so soon, and there’s so much to do! It really sneaks up on you!” Piers said. Stresses of treatment, graduate school and wedding planning aside, Tara will be celebrating her victories at the 18th Annual Komen Connecticut Race for the Cure on June 4th in Hartford’s Bushnell Park. “Getting breast cancer changed me, for the better. It gave me something that I never had before, a value for life and determination to put all of myself and my happiness into every moment that I have here. I don't let cancer define me as a person, but it is a large part of who I am and why I am the person I am today.” About the Connecticut Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Komen for the Cure’s presence in Connecticut began in 1994 with a Race for the Cure. The local organization was incorporated as an Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure in 1999. Komen Connecticut serves local communities by providing funding for research and local life-saving programs which address education, screening and treatment for Connecticut residents. In 2010, Komen Connecticut invested $1.02 Million locally, providing funding to 21 Connecticut breast health programs. Since 1994, Komen for the Cure has awarded more than $20 Million to programs in our local communities. For more information, visit KomenCT.org or call 860-321-7806. # # # |
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