BEAUTY for a CURE

My name is Christina Amato-Smith and I never thought it would be me. I had my life planned out. I have a successful hair salon, I am an educator in the beauty industry, and I have a wonderful family life. I have a child, that due to medical resason, I never thought I would have. I had my dreams set before me, until that fateful day I found a strange lump. I didn't think anything of it at first, and waited to get the next available appointment at the doctor, just to be sure.

They say, “life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”. Life changed for me it seems in a split second. What was going to happen now? My emotions were all scrambled when I found out I had stage 3 breast cancer. I didn't know if I should cry, scream, panic, hit something or do it all at the same time. Did it mean I had to start setting things up for my son thinking I wasn't going to be here? Was I going to beat this thing? I couldn't leave my husband, my mom, and most importantly my baby boy. I still had so much more to do, to see my baby grow up, to see his accomplishments in life ...I had to just, be there.

After the horror of it all, I decided to LIVE, to fight, and to educate myself. My faith was strong, my family support was strong. God never let me down before and I knew he wouldn't this time. He has made me look at my life in a new perspective; it's time for me to choose to live. Now I need to fight! Part of my fight was to find out the medical specifics. New drugs or treatments being used, costs of the best doctors and hospitals. During this time is when I came to know the full aspect of the help that was available to me. I never dreamed of the support of non-profit organizations, until I met others in similar circumstances. You are brought together by Faith, Strength, Hope and Love for each other. We are brought together because we love life!

For the first time I was not fully in control of my life. I was use to being the person in control; the one other's sought after for help. The hardest thing was to admit I was the one who needed help. I felt I was taking advantage of the organization's goodness by accepting their help. I felt there was always someone else who needed it more than me. It was hard for me to identify that I was that person in need. After all is said and done, I can proudly say I am cancer free. I have made lifelong friends. Now I am driven by a calling, I have been given a second chance at life and I need to make a difference. It was then I decided to help others.