GoDaddy is celebrating the strength of women during Breast Cancer Awareness month by asking women to share how Breast Cancer has affected their life. I figured this would be a good time to share my story. Here goes….

Shortly after I turned 40 (not that long ago) my doctor sent me in for my first mammogram. I wasn’t concerned. Almost everyone has a baseline mammogram done at 40 so I went into the test with no worries or concerns.

Two days later I received a call asking me to come back in for more images on the left side. You know that worry started immediately. As soon as I hung up I started freaking out. A call to a friend calmed me down and I just told myself to keep positive thoughts.  

A week later I’m back for more images. This time I’m asked to wait while the radiologist reads the images. After, what seemed like forever, the radiologist came in to speak with me. 

Here’s what I heard: blah, blah, “can turn into breast cancer”, blah, blah, the cysts are small and I don’t see a need for a biopsy at this point, blah, blah, need a mammogram every 6 months, blah, blah.

The radiologist went on to explain that I could opt for a biopsy, but he didn’t really see any need for it at this point. However, he stressed the fact that I needed to come back in 6 months for another scan. At that point if there were changes than we would decide the best course of action.

Panic. He said the 1 word I never, ever wanted to hear: Cancer. I really don’t recall much of that appointment. It’s funny how everything else fades away when you hear that word. 

I thought about having the biopsy right away, but took a deep breath and decided to take the radiologists advice and just wait. He didn’t say it was breast cancer, just that there was a chance that the cysts could morph into cancer. 

I’ve been back for two more mammograms since that first test and I always get a bit antsy about a week before going in, but I remind myself that there hasn’t been any changes in 18 months so there is a pretty good chance that nothing is going to change.

I feel so lucky that, to date, everything is ok. I pray that things continue to stay the same. Those cysts encourage me to performs a breast check every month. First of every month I’m checkin out my “headlights” and making sure there are no lumps, bumps, or weird spots.  Nothing like a little breast cancer scare to remind yourself to check things out.

In honor of the strength of women everywhere Go Daddy is offering 20% off your entire order when you use the code STRENGTH.

Go Daddy would love to know your tip for reminding yourself to check your headlights and is giving away a $500 shopping spree to one lucky person who also registers for their newsletter!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Go Daddy. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.