Breast Cancer Free Mastectomy Pillows for Individuals and Medical Clinics
June 12, 2018 KimHarms

We have sent FREE mastectomy pillows to individuals in 39 states and medical centers in four states. My mom and her friends (The Bosom Buddies) get together regularly to sew pillows to give to women in need. In fact, they have a sewing day planned this week. The lovely woman pictured above is one our our pillow recipients. She received her pillow through the Hoffberger Breast Center in Baltimore, Maryland. If you or someone you know could use these pillows, you can find a contact form on my FREE MASTECTOMY PILLOWS page. (Please remember to include a mailing address with…

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Life The Vietnam War and Sacrifice Gave My Brother His Name
May 28, 2018 KimHarms

  (I originally wrote the following post about freedom and sacrifice for inspireafire.com last year. I thought Memorial Day was an appropriate time to publish a slightly revised version.) Keith. That’s the name of my dad’s best boyhood friend. It’s also my brother’s name. My brother carries Keith’s name because Keith Kahlstorf was only allowed to carry it for a short time. The Vietnam War took his life when he was barely out of his teens. I’m sure he didn’t want to die. His family didn’t want him to die. My dad didn’t want him to die.  But as that…

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Breast Cancer The Gift of Knowing Human Frailty
May 22, 2018 KimHarms 4Comment

I was 40 and already had a head of prematurely gray hair (I hide it well) when Dr. Testroet called with the crappy cancer news, but the following words from Jen Wilkin’s 27-year-old experience ring true inside of me. Once you hear a cancer diagnosis, you can’t unhear it. Even with successful treatment, it changes the way you number your days. I had been given an opportunity not many 27-year-olds could claim: the opportunity to count each of my days as precious. Any illusions I might have had that this life would last forever were effectively removed. I learned a…

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Breast Reconstruction 8 Women Weigh in on the Hardest Part of Breast Reconstruction
May 15, 2018 KimHarms

When people are comfortable enough to ask me about breast reconstruction, one of the things they want to know is “What was the hardest part?” It’s a tough question to answer because there are so many hard things about it both physically and emotionally. The following eight women (who represent a variety of breast reconstruction procedures) attempt to answer that question today. Heather Lau – Reconstruction with Tissue Expanders It was definitely physically hard for me. I got expanders put in two months after chemo, and my body was still recovering from that. I thought the drainage tubes were awful….

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Books & Book Reviews A Cancer Book Worth Reading – Warrior In Pink by Vivian Mabuni
May 8, 2018 KimHarms

  Books are kind of my thing. I’m reading three of them right now. One is a gift I’m giving to a friend (I’m reading it first. Shhh…don’t tell), One is a spiritual growth kind of book and one is just a sitting on the deck reading for fun book. Over the past couple of years, I’ve added a few cancer books into my reading repertoire. Of those books, Warrior in Pink, grabbed me and took me right back to the beginning of my own cancer story. Author Vivian Mabuni and I have much different experiences. Her breast cancer had…

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Breast Reconstruction I Have a Literary Agent But What Does That Mean?
May 1, 2018 KimHarms 2Comment

A couple weeks ago I excitedly posted a photo of my contract with Credo Communications (and a photo of the steak I ate in celebration.) Since then a lot of people have been asking me what having a literary agent means. BOOK WRITING Writing a book is a crazy long process. In fact, I would say my book writing journey began in 2011 when my author friend Jolene Philo told me to “Fork over the money and go to a good writer’s conference” if I was serious about this writing thing. (Maybe she didn’t word it exactly like that.) So,…

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Breast Cancer Music and The Comforter of My Soul
April 24, 2018 KimHarms 2Comment

I have no idea how it works. I’m a mediocre singer. I took piano lessons for five years and the only thing I can play is the first several measures of Could’ve Been by Tiffany. But somehow, when God created music, He made a salve for the human soul. My 10-year-old sings himself to sleep each night. His sweet sweet voice is a daily reminder of beauty from ashes. Of a miscarriage and many months of grieving and waiting followed by the gift of Lewis. My little man has no idea, but his voice is a soul-soothing touch from my…

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Breast Cancer In the Dead of Night – A Mastectomy Story by Jane DeShaw
April 17, 2018 KimHarms

2:36 a.m. The February night is moonless, black, as you turn your head to the left and gaze out the second-story window. The limbs and leafless branches of the huge maple tree just outside are like cold, barren, groping arms, sinister in the streetlamp’s dim glow. Lying flat on your back in bed, each arm is propped up on a large pillow. Except for your elevated arms, you are nestled like a caterpillar in a cocoon. You would think this should make you feel safe and secure. You would think. Where did they put your breasts? Were they tossed in…

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Breast Reconstruction I Have a Literary Agent (I Pinched Myself and I’m Not Dreaming)
April 10, 2018 KimHarms 8Comment

So this happened. I signed a contract with a literary agent. Not just “a” literary agent, but the exact literary agent I was hoping for. As of this week, I am officially represented by Karen Neumair at Credo Communications. And according to my contract, I am hereinafter called the AUTHOR. Oh boy. That word connected to my name is just about more than my heart can take. It’s a big deal. It’s a jump into my hubby’s arms and go out for steak at Johnnie’s kind of big deal.   Thank you Jesus, for signed literary agreements (and for husbands…

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Life Our Family Goes Backpacking, But My Friend Tori’s Family REALLY Goes Backpacking
March 30, 2018 KimHarms

Last summer my family went backpacking in Colorado. It was just an overnight trip, and within 24 hours we had returned to civilization and were eating the biggest hamburgers we’d ever seen in our lives. It was just a sweet little trip, but because it was the final check on my post-cancer to-do list, it was a pretty big deal. My friend Tori backpacks with her family. Like seriously backpacks. She goes on monster trips – 7+ days with no potty and no shower kind of trips. My max so far is two nights, and I don’t know if I’ll…

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