Dorothy: [00:00:00] Welcome to Let’s Talk About Your Breast, a podcast brought to you by The Rose Breast Imaging Center of Excellence and a Texas Treasure. I’m Dorothy Gibbons, your host and co-founder of The Rose. During this season, you’ll also be hearing from co-host, Roxann Hayford and others as we bring you stories from survivors, physicians, caregivers, researchers, employees, and supporters. These are real people sharing difficult times, celebrations and personal stories of hope, despair, and faith.
Lin Lin Yan: I’m Lin Lin Yan. I am one of the owners of Aling’s Chinese Bistro, and I’m also a co-host for Chi Tam Radio. I’m a big supporter of The Rose. I have known Ashma for almost eight years now. And, uh, we have the girls are very [00:01:00] passionate with, uh, getting good healthcare for the women out there to get the mammograms done and to improve health for men and women. And yes, and we love partnering with, uh, with The Rose. I think many times women put themselves last, and in fact it should be the other way around. They should be taking care of themselves first, especially when it comes to their health, so that they’re able to take care of their families. So that is why I like, I’m, I’m very passionate about advocating for women’s health.
Um, my advice would be, take care of yourselves. You know, you come first. Self care is important. Self-care is not only about going to a spa or getting a massage or you know, getting your hair done. Your health is super important, so that needs to be taken care of. So take care of yourself so that you can take care of your family and everyone around you.[00:02:00]
Iman Moosa: Hi everyone. My name is Iman Moosa, the owner of Kismet Jewels, which is a temperament jewelry based company. We make real gemstone and real gold’s products for everyone’s unique temperaments. We’re really honored to be here and be supporting The Rose today. Be supporting women who have conquered breast cancer, women who are going through it.
Many of you probably listening to this know my wonderful, amazing Aunt Ashma Moosa. She is the reason why I am here today, um, watching her be so strong throughout these years as she battled breast cancer, um, really inspired me to take the leap of starting my own business. She was a big role model for me growing up and showed me that you can’t be afraid. You can’t be waiting to take chances, and when opportunities arise, you must seize them and to always give your a hundred percent. So we’re really honored to be supporting such an amazing organization, supporting an amazing group of women, and just really thankful for everything that The Rose has done for people, especially people I clo, hold really close to my heart.
Ashma got diagnosed [00:03:00] most likely when I was in middle school, and I remember it being a really odd concept. She was the first family member who I was really close to, to go through something really big like this. And I just remember being in those rooms and, and coming to visit her and wanting to be supportive of my cousins and wanting to make sure that everyone was going to just be all right. But honestly, it was always Ashma to be the one who say, or was the one to say she was always going to be all right. I think most of us in those rooms were really worried, but seeing the strength that she held was amazing throughout those months. Um, even as a young girl, it’s made such an impression on me and I mean, it’s a decade later, more than a decade later, and it’s still something I think about, uh, pretty often you have to look at a half glass full when it comes to these kinds of situations. You can easily, you know, we could have all curled up into bed and like held each other and cried about it, but instead, I, her husband is in the medical field. My mom being her sister is also in the medical field. I think we had a lot of good grounding support, and when you’re young and you watch those things [00:04:00] happen, it turns something in your head. So when you come to new situations, you remember that resilience that was around you and it kind of empowers you to continue through every sort of course and obstacle that like you may face throughout life.
Sami Khaleeq: Hi, I’m Sami Khaleeq and I am a commissioner for planning and development for City of Houston. Apart from that, I’ve been in the digital, uh, cyberspace for a long time, over a decade. Uh, Rose I think is an important organization in my opinion. I support a lot of charity causes, very near and dear friends to me, had gone through breast cancer and Rose is one of the institution that has actually, in my opinion, raised awareness about the disease and done a lot of grassroots and groundwork that needed to be done.
When it comes to, uh, breast cancer, on top of it, there’s a lot of organization that may support the cause, but Rose kind [00:05:00] of goes that extra way where you have the family environment, the connections, people who can relate to you, and people who can support you mentally, you know, to get through this issue. And, uh, right now, if you look around, there’s not many groups that do that. And that’s one thing I think that’s phenomenal about Rose. Uh, Ashma and Dr. Moosa have been great supporters. I used to be their intern back in the day and, and obviously they first introduced me to Rose and, and dragged me on, uh, with a cause. And so today, uh, you know, we’re at Hats and Hena and we’re here to again, uh, raise awareness, raise funds, and uh, create support system for those who need it.
Parita Thakkar: Hi, my name’s Parita Thakkar. I am the founder and creative director of ParDesi Pulse. ParDesi Pulse is very near and dear to my heart. Um, it’s a dance group that has been a lifelong dream and, uh, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer back, um, last July, which required me to leave Chicago and move to [00:06:00] Houston. Um, giving up my, you know, dance and everything I was doing there. So I came here and my uncle, who is gonna be doing the music here, rhythm of Dreams. He gave me the opportunity to start this dance team and since then, you know, we’ve just been going around and doing performances at various events. Thankfully one of our members, uh, Sowmya, who’s here with us, um, she was able to get in, get us connected with The Rose and you know, it really just hit close to home. ‘Cause during that time my mom was going through chemotherapy, so she is a survivor. And performing at this event not only is, you know, obviously a great opportunity for us, but it’s something that really hits close to home because you know, my mom is my best friend and she’s the reason I started dancing.
She’s the reason I started this group and she’s the reason we’re here today and we’re so happy. You know, dance is the best, best form of therapy. I think whether you’re set healthy, whether you’re not healthy, whatever it is, you know, dance it out, be happy. ’cause you never know what tomorrow’s gonna bring. I think my message is stay stay strong, especially for the parent who’s been diagnosed. For me, I know my mom was the one who stayed strong [00:07:00] even though she was the one diagnosed. ’cause at the end of the day, usually when it’s a mother, she’s the one who runs the household. And for us it was, it was a very tough time, right?
Living, giving up. And whether you’re five, whether you’re 10, whether you’re 15, you’re still having to give up something to kind of be there with your mom. So say stay strong. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. You know, just even, even if there isn’t, you know, spend every moment, spend every second you get with that person ’cause it’s gonna be very near and dear whether you know, it lasts forever, lasts for a month, lasts for three years. Just appreciate it and enjoy it.
Sowmya: My name is Sowmya and I dance with a fabulous dance group, ParDesi Pulse. Breast cancer is something that touched our lives too. My, uh, husband’s mom, my mother-in-law lost her battle to breast cancer and I never got the opportunity to meet her. So it has touched us our lives in a way that I wish it does not, and I hope [00:08:00] that through organizations like Rose who are doing such amazing work, that it reaches out to more people. And more people get diagnosed when they should, and I’m really grateful that we are working with, uh, an organization like that. A friend of mine, Peter, is the one who introduced us to The Rose and then Parita stepped in, and the rest is history.
Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need. And remember, self care is not selfish. It’s essential.
