10/16/2024
Thank you to everyone who has voted for me for the competition! I’m currently in 2nd place in my voting group! Please keep voting every day, as I’m looking forward to advancing to the next round of the competition! You can vote for free once daily, or you have the option to make a donation to The National Breast Cancer Foundation, which comes along with votes, as well. I’m hopeful that participating in this competition will raise money for breast cancer research. As some of you are aware, this is near and dear to my heart, from losing my best friend, Kim D. Hawkes Kim Smith to breast cancer, friends who have died too young from breast cancer, friends who are survivors, and those who are currently battling this awful disease, to remembering the day that I learned that my beloved mother-in-law found a lump and told me on Jason’s graduation day from UNCC. Fast forward to becoming Maycee’s adoptive mother, and for a solid year, she thought I was dying, and realizing that she could feel that it was her birth mother who had breast cancer. Then a few weeks after Mommy D’s death, Maycee and I were on our way down our stairs to go get in the pool in our backyard. She was behind me, and I couldn’t see her face when she asked me, “Did the lady who had me in her belly pass away?” My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I asked her if anyone had talked to her, and she told me she just knew. I had one of the most unimaginable conversations that no one wants to have with their young child, to take away her innocence, to know that she wouldn’t get to see her birth mother again until they meet again in Heaven. It floored me. Mommy D was only in her 20’s when she died of breast cancer. Too young, practically still a child herself. And now I face the reality that my daughter may have the gene too for breast cancer and what I need to do to prepare for this possibility. This is my why. Yes, I’d like to win the money, as I have big plans for that, but I know that the chances of winning a big contest like this is slim to none. But I can at least use our story and our journey for good and hopefully make a difference to help raise money and awareness for breast cancer. I hope you will vote for me. I want to be able to use my voice to help someone else, even if it’s just for one person, then that’s a life saved.
https://votefab40.com/2024/traci-carter
