Salina South Middle School teacher and breast cancer survivor Barbara Livengood has a story to tell about how she beat breast cancer.

But then, so do a lot of others. What separates Livengood's message from other survivors' stories is in the details and the way Livengood shared them Thursday at the Sisterhood for Healthy Breasts cancer awareness forum in Salina.

According to reporter Gary Demuth's story, Livengood told a large audience that she and her husband were "messing around" (or as Demuth discreetly put it, it started as a "romantic night") when her husband found a lump in her left breast.

"That's when my life changed forever," Livengood told her audience.

Livengood had a double mastectomy and then had reconstructive surgery. The new breasts were fashioned from fat from her abdomen.

"I love my new breasts," she said. "I'm a size bigger." Another plus for Livengood was that, as a result of the surgery, she ended up with a smaller waist. There was even the detail, not mentioned in Demuth's Journal article, about how she and her doctor picked out her new breasts' nipples.

If you blushed while reading this or our original story, that's OK. Sometimes it takes jarring language or details to get our attention. It also takes courage -- and in Livengood's case, a wonderful sense of humor -- to get up in front of a crowd and tell your survivor's story.

We can't hear enough of these stories. We also can't say enough for the many others who got involved during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, from those at Long McArthur Ford in Salina to the members of the South High School Kilt Crew who painted parts of their bodies pink before running around at Friday's football game.

There's no telling how many lives are saved by such efforts. Anything that gets us to thinking about our wives, sisters, mothers, daughters and ourselves helps. And in Livengood's case, with the way her story was told, we think it helps a little bit more.

-- Ben Wearing

Executive Editor

822-1421

bwearing@salina.com

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PO'd teacher says....
No one would have blushed at the story had you actually represented it the correct way, instead you focus on the way she found it, making a big deal out of that and putting her through this, when she's already been through enough. She was speaking to an audience of women and now you've taken private details that she chose to share with a select group of women and put it in the newspaper. I'm sure as a middle school teacher, she especially thanks you for that, as I'm sure those children who she didn't choose to share the information with, are getting a kick out of making comments. I'll make sure and tell the kids that I teach that are flunking to look into journalism, because you evidently need no common sense, maturity, or education.
11/5/2009

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skyhyzer says....
wasn't breast cancer month last month?
11/3/2009

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