By JOSHUA THOMAS

C-S-E Editor

October annually calls attention to two very important causes, both of which have touched my life by affecting those close to me. It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month, and National Fire Prevention Month, wherein we’re annually provided a great opportunity to remind each other to make sure things are in tip-top shape, externally and internally.

I’ve known breast cancer survivors, and I’ve unfortunately also known people who were unable to beat the disease, in at least once instance because of a late diagnosis or improper care, the ramifications of which will never cease to pain the victim’s family. My great grandma Aggie was a survivor of both fire and breast cancer.

A fire decimated her family home in the 1960s, destroying all of her family’s possessions, forevermore placing vast importance on fire safety through my family’s lineage from that moment forward.

After a dramatic escape, and with the help of the community, my family rebuilt their lives, my great grandfather Joe opting to build a new home from the ground up, which they lived in until my grandmother passed away, ten years behind my grandfather, a little over two years ago.

Fire departments have been visiting local school districts to let students know the dangers of fire, and the importance of preventative measures. I still personally remember these lessons in school, and I absolutely learned from them. Most vividly, I remember lessons on creating a family plan that detailed where, if there was a fire, we’d all meet each other. If I remember correctly,  having a family plan played an important role in allowing my family to escape that fire together.

My mother, already very active in making sure our house was as safe as possible, kept a roll-out ladder in the closet of my room, so if my sister and I needed to, we could escape from a second story window. Thankfully, I never had to use that roll-out ladder, or the family plan, but I knew how to, and was ready to if the need arose. Those lessons stuck, and I’m hoping that families take the opportunity that October affords them to drill those lessons into their kids’ heads.

My great grandma Aggie, as well as being a survivor of a devastating fire, was a breast cancer survivor. She’d already conquered it before I was born, and I’ll never forget how I learned exactly what had happened to her. One time, as a very young child, I remember sneaking into the bathroom, the door of which was cracked, while my grandmother was in the shower. A mischievous youngster, I wanted to play a prank when suddenly I noticed something I didn’t yet understand — my grandmother’s prosthetic breast — on the hamper. I snatched it and went running down the hall, placing it under a blanket at the end of the bed, then sitting on it, acting as though I did nothing wrong.

I remember my grandmother tearing out of the bathroom, running toward me down a hallway in a towel yelling, “where’s my booby?” By then, all present family members caught on, as the breast I was sitting on top of forced me to sit crooked, and they all, including my grandmother, who wrestled the breast from under me, were doubled over laughing.

I laugh at this story now, but what strikes me is that if my grandmother weren’t properly diagnosed and treated, I might not have had the opportunity to tell it. In regards to both topics so generously promoted in October, it’s the knowledge we acquire that will brings us closer to safety, and it’s a future with our loved ones that we’re working to preserve.