Every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. My third minute came November 19, 2007. Still in my twenties and a single mother, the events that lead up to and the events that succeeded my diagnosis were as unnerving, provocative and soul jarring as the prognosis itself. Fresh out of the frying pan of one unhealthy relationship, I found myself dancing in the fires of another. As my personal life became a circus, my work environment became a pressure cooker and just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I found a lump in my breast. The irony of it all being, before the diagnosis I felt like I was dying and it wasn't until I found out that I had cancer that I began living.In this two part memoir you will come to understand my beginnings, my fears, my addictions, loves and the Soundtrack that is My Life. You may already know me as the Poet: Siren Lyric Muse or have heard my voice in "That Song" (Marvin's Room) but my story, my life cannot be summed up in a Youtube video, nor a 5 minute song, or subsequently misinformed blogs. This memoir began long before the aforementioned media exposure, as I have been writing for years and in the months before my diagnosis It seemed as though the dreams and the premonitions I was having were leading me to this moment: to complete my books. When I first began writing this book it was to speak of the gut wrenching love that had brought me to the place I found myself at the time, in several toxic situations and relationships. This book was then titled: The Way a Woman Loves...Well, life had more in store for my novel than just the casualties of love. And just as love is the most transient of all things carbon based, so are book titles and premature eureka. I have realized I cannot speak to the way a woman loves. In fact the way I loved is more a cautionary tale than a testament for love- this instead is... My Heart Laid Bare.