Author Judy Blume Reveals Breast Cancer Battle
Author Judy Blume -- who wrote many popular young adult books including Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Superfudge, Iggie's House and Blubber -- has announced her diagnosis with breast cancer.
Blume, 74, revealed in a blog post on Wednesday that she's been fighting the disease over the summer. She explained that a visit to the radiologist on June 12 indicated that she needed to undergo a core biopsy that canceled a planned five-week trip to Italy in July during which she hoped to finish a new book. She learned that she had breast cancer a few days later.
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"Wait -- me? There’s no breast cancer in my family (recent extensive genetic testing shows no genetic connection)," she writes about her initial shock. "I haven't eaten red meat in more than 30 years. I've never smoked, I exercise every day, forget alcohol -- it's bad for my reflux -- I've been the same weight my whole adult life. How is this possible? Well, guess what – it's possible."
Blume said she underwent a successful mastectomy on July 30. "This surgery went well, one night in the hospital, very little pain," she writes. She now reports she's "feeling stronger every day" and concludes that she now belongs to "The Club" of friends who have suffered through breast cancer. She adds that those friends ultimately "Got me through this -- they were my inspiration."