“Hearing the word ‘invasive’ was the kicker,” McCracken says. Her surgeon recommended removal of the breast. But McCracken had a history of cysts on both breasts, and her mother was nearing the end of her second decade as a breast cancer survivor.

“I chose not to have to wait and worry mammogram after mammogram about my left breast through my 50s and 60s,” McCracken says. “The choice I made to have a bilateral mastectomy and immediate reconstruction was very personal. Ditto for my decision not to get breast implants. I chose instead to go for a more complicated — but more natural — surgical
option for reconstruction, and have my new set of ‘girls’ for the rest of my life.”

Because the mammogram helped catch the cancer early and McCracken’s lymph nodes were clear, she escaped having radiation, chemotherapy and other cancer drugs.

“I realize how very fortunate I am,” McCracken says, “and the true heroes are the women whose battles against breast cancer are hard-fought and long.”

But what about the women who start those battles so far behind, they have virtually no chance of winning? What about the women who avoid mammograms simply because they can’t afford them?

Just 68 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 49 have had a mammogram in the past two years, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. And in North Carolina, only half of women between 40 and 45 have had a mammogram over the same two-year period.

Cost or lack insurance should be no reason for women not to have the test that could save their lives, McCracken decided. She designed T-shirts that read, “Yes Ma’am! mammograms are a must.” McCracken donates 15 percent from the sale of each shirt to organizations that help pay for screenings for uninsured and under-insured women. In the Charlotte area,
donations are made to the Carolinas Breast Cancer Fund.

“So, what’s the take-away from all this?” McCracken asks. “Get squeezed ... every year, no exceptions, no excuses. Yes ma’am!