Hello, my name is Leslie, and it has been 44 years since my mother, a survivor, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was nine years old at the time. For the rest of my childhood, I wondered if my mother would live. I watched her suffer in isolation as she struggled emotionally with the ravages of the Halsted Radical Mastectomy.

In the 1950's, the tacit agreement of doctors was that breast cancer always ran in families. I waited throughout my adolescence and adulthood for my own diagnosis. Today, despite a clear understanding of my risks (not much higher than the average woman my age), I still wait.

In 1995, I saw a milagro in an art show. Fascinated, I learned that milagros are derived from traditional talismans that have existed for hundreds of years. They are artistic symbols that represent concerns about aspects of one's life or parts of the body where there is uncertainty, pain, or where health may be threatened.

In traditional use someone with a health concern fashions a miniature hand, foot, heart or breast out of available metals. Milagros function both as a symbolic request for health, and as an expression of gratitude for recovered health. They represent a connection between the individual and faith, or belief in a spiritual source.

Inspired by the spirit of the milagro and the symbolism it carried, I decided to create a contemporary Breast Milagro. No other symbol spoke so eloquently of the female body with so personal a meaning. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I would have been comforted by wearing The Breast Milagro. My mother, who had researched every means available to her for emotional support (there was little to none), would have been empowered to wear The Breast Milagro.

The Breast Milagro has been created with much consideration. The first time people see The Breast Milagro they remark that it appears to be an upside down heart. This common response gives each woman the choice to identify the symbol or keep it private.

Today, my mother (she won't go anywhere without it!), my sisters, and growing numbers of women wear The Breast Milagro as a wish for breast health, and as a symbol of determination in our battle against breast cancer.

I offer you, too, The Breast Milagro as a symbol of our hope.