PRESS RELEASE MICHELEANN

Michele Ann Stands Up and Fights for the Cure

“Stand up and fight” is the rally cry for rock-pop’s next rising star, Michele Ann Salvo. Hailing from sunny, palm tree dotted Daytona Beach, Florida, the dynamic, determined, and incredibly motivated musician is leading the charge in the next wave of empowered women in the fight against breast cancer. As a current patient and survivor, advocate for Rock Pink, and supporter of the American Cancer Society, Michele Ann is utilizing her talents to generate awareness, raise money, and aid women across the country in finding a cure.

As a nurse by day and singer-songwriter by night, Michele Ann has overcome the odds on multiple occasions to continue on in her craft with unwavering will and drive. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, it spread to her trachea, leading to dangerous surgeries which left her unable to sing for three months. While the doctors couldn’t guarantee whether Michele Ann would ever sing again, she’s returned sounding better than ever, releasing her first official full length record, She’s a Rocker in June 2010.

Produced by Frank Starchak and featuring renowned producer Ron St. Germain (Muse, U2, 311, Soundgarden) mixing her first single, She’s a Rocker showcases Michele Ann spreading her wings, stretching out, and delivering 15 songs of brilliant rock-pop. Capable of both driving rhythms and heart string pulling ballads, her versatility in vocals and songwriting makes for entertaining, truly inspired music.

Michele Ann continues her unrelenting efforts with charities, most recently helping with Rock Pink’s Bowl-o-rama event, which rose over $36,000 to support research, care, and awareness. She participates and performs annually in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and her most recent single “Stand Up and Fight,” which received a Billboard Honorary Mention Award, is officially on the event playlist for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Over time, her dedication and resilience has established her as a symbol amongst breast cancer patients and survivors, as local and national media are all beginning to take notice.

Her influence also spreads into the military supporters, as Michele Ann has a number of patriotic numbers in the repertoire, including “America Stands by You,” which is scheduled to be performed at the 2010 Virginia Tea Party Patriots Convention. As a mother of an Iraqi war veteran, her connection to the soldiers is as personal and realistic as possible, allowing her to tap into another massive group of supporters capable of easily relating to her music.

Visit Michele Ann’s official website and Sonicbirds page for further information, photos, and audio, including new tracks from her debut record. She’s a Rocker and both of her previous singles, “Lean on Me” and “America Stands by You” are available for purchase on iTunes now. Stand Up and Fight written by John Rainey and Michele Ann

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the day after thanksgiving

(This picture from last yr my dad with his great grandson)Today, the day after thanksgiving, I spent the day with my son Justin and my Daddy in Orlando at his house. My father was sad yesterday his good dear friend and neighbor was in hospice taking his final breaths on earth. I cant imagine being his age and having to watch all of your friends die, he has missed my mother for 4 yrs now as we all do. The holidays are a reminder of all those we have lost that cannot be at the table with you but it is also the reminder of all you have had over the yrs, they are forever in your memories and heart. I looked across the table to my dad and thought is this our last yr, one never knows, I for the first time in 3 yrs was able to give him good news, though it scared me to tell him...my fear is now that i am cancer free he will feel free to leave.....

words from a breast cancer patient and nurse

Its easier to write a note then small little status updates about breast cancer and fighting the battle for life. People ask me all the time how i do it? My answer is always the same, I do what anyone would do i think ,cause i have things to do yet. I guess I've had a different attitude from the get go of diagnosis of breast cancer, I initially cried like a baby in a strangers arms because i went to the Dr alone. That was my choice I didn't want to have my family or friends sad, i knew what was coming i'm a nurse. I had a mammogram then they kept me and said we have to do an ultrasound, this was the sign to me that it was what every women feared, I know too much i'm a nurse. Then after the ultrasound in walked the radiologist with a nurse, I took one look and i knew, you don't see the radiologist unless its bad. "Michele I am so sorry to be the one to tell you but you have breast cancer." I didn't hear another word every thing else was a blur except a Dr giving up her free time to biopsy me that day if i would consider staying. Time is of the essence when you have a lump do not ever wait to get it checked. Every minute can cost you your life.
Biopsy: I was a modest person before breast cancer and there is no dignity in laying on a table in a room full of strangers with everything showing. They give you pain medication locally and epi is injected directly into your breasts , which then causes shivering when they have to give you a lot of it. Tumors are very vascular so when they enter them the bleeding can be bad and sometimes unstoppable. They insert markers inside each lump for surgeons later and vacuum out tissue samples for biopsy, the whole time i kept thinking this truly sucks my boobs are all out there i'm shivering and shaking so bad its awful and they have needles in my breasts. The whole time i thought "dear God please please don't let it be breast cancer." They could be wrong i thought, however the drs were very sure it was and told me so, the biopsy was to find out what type so they could go after it. A girl can still pray and hope.
Well the rest is history as you know it was Lobular carcinoma in situ, and Noninvasive (in situ) breast cancer, and invasive,Invasive (infiltrating) breast cancers spread outside the membrane that lines a duct or lobule, invading the surrounding tissues. The cancer cells can then travel to other parts of your body, such as the lymph nodes. If your breast cancer is stage I, II, III or IV, you have invasive breast cancer.Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ (DCIS), estrogen and progesterone receptive positive. What this means is i had two different types of cancer some not so bad some bad, all hormone receptive which is a good thing because there is better prognosis for this type of cancer. When cancer spreads to other organs in the body its stage IV no one wants this. I was diagnosed stage II i had hope huge huge hope.

TREATMENT: bilateral mastectomies, 14 lymph nodes removed, which all in itself is no picnic of a surgery, on the spot reconstruction TRAM, Tram is when they reconstruct using your abdmn muscles and tissue to rebuild you, bad part of this is you have no core after they do this yes you have a tummy tuck but you have no core muscles. Im a turtle on its back when lying flat there is no getting up unless i twist and use my lateral muscles. My statement to my surgeon when she suggested this surgery was "yay no more sit ups!" hehe well you have to joke about things sometimes the laughter makes you forget the seriousness of the situation.

Michele Ann - National Anthem (Rock Pink Version)

Today is a new day for me it is all I have, I don't think about the future or tomorrow I think about today. When you have a terminal diagnosis the best way to live is in the RIGHT here and NOW. Make today matter,first I will take my cup of coffee and go outside and feel, smell and enjoy the air and the sun on my face for a little while. My puppy beside me she came along a few wks before I knew I had a re occurrence of breast cancer. Ive often thought is it fair to her perhaps I should give her to someone to raise and love.God brought her to me though and I have learned to follow what his plans entail for me and for Rocksey.

She is a yellow Lab like Max she looks just like him except she is a girl. Max came into my life when my sons were little and he would follow the twins around everywhere. I guess to tell you Rockseys story I have to tell you about Max. I thought he would bond with my sons they had never had a dog before i had just gone through a divorce. He decided from the beginning he was my buddy but he protected the entire family. I told you in my previous blog Max saved my life by making me see i had cancer. He never left my side where I was he was it use to make me crazy he'd be asleep and id get up for a glass of water and he would immediately get up and follow me to the kitchen. When I went through breast cancer the first time he never left my side. Then he got ill, he was 10 yrs old after all it was bound to happen. I was too sick to go to the vets office so i had a vet come to our home. Max was getting weak he couldn't get up from a sitting position or lying postion and he would look at me like im sick. Did you know dogs can get diabetes? Well guess what he had it and I am a nurse so I understand somewhat whats going on but then im thinking how in the world do I control his blood sugars?

My vet told me you have to check his urine when he goes, so picture this, me with this rag on my head, sick as a dog from chemo, following my dog around in the back yard with a paper cup. Then picture the same dog thinking oh what is she doing collecting my stuff! So he would play games he'd make believe he was going to pee and then hed get up and go NO i'm going over there, no im going over there, over and over again and here i am following him around with a paper cup. I'm thinking dog im dying here could you cut me a break? No breaks for me, it turns out he had a master plan to keep me on my feet and off the couch and out of bed by giving me someone to take care of that needed just me. Funny how God works.....I think had i not had someone to take care of I would of laid in bed or on the couch and thought whoah is me. Max needed me he would come over to me and in his way ask for a hug, he loved for me to hug him tight. Love and hugs can heal breast cancer he didn't care I lost all my hair, he didn't care I gained 50 lbs from the drugs they gave me, he didn't care I couldn't eat anything for almost 5 months, he didn't care about anything but the "me" he knew and loved. Max had to have insulin which i gave him every day and i checked his urine every day, we went through breast cancer together and diabetes.

Max left me the week I was well enough to go back to work and my breast cancer treatment was done. He held on till he knew I was going to be ok. Max you will forever be in my heart until we meet again............

Stage IV breast cancer what it does to a womans life

As I wake up each morning, I can hear the birds singing, the sunshine is brilliant, the leaves are so green and magnificent, I feel alive. Most may say they notice the world around them but until you really get the message not to take life for granted we all included me in the past woke up and thought "is this all there is?" Wow it is this and so much more! I have a song in my heart for the rest of my days here with you. STAND UP AND FIGHT http://www.myspace.com/micheleannn for my sisters....

In 2008 I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer, bilateral, both invasive and in early stage, with one lymph node involved. My diagnosis was a little uncanny my best friend Max an 10 yr old yellow lab, knew it was there. Hes main purpose at the end of his life was to make me aware ,which he did by hitting me in the chest, exactly where the tumor was over and over again until one day I realized man it hurts there. I am a nurse and know better but I like so many others thought I was exempt. I didn't get my mammogram, I was busy and not wealthy and let this be a lesson to all of you ladies out there please please get a mammogram. I went many yrs without health insurance just because i couldn't afford it and even us nurses didn't know how inexpensive mammograms are approximately $100.00 dollars ladies its worth your life don't you think?

I went though a lot surgery,chemo, thyroid cancer, thyroidectomy, radioactive swallow, low thyroid fatigue, wt gain, my throat was cut and I couldn't make pitch or range for 3 months, I thought my voice had been taken forever,then few months ago much to my shock when I thought I was finally done with it all; Stage IV breast cancer, its now in my lungs. I refer to it as "aliens" in my body because i guess its easier for me to deal with that way. I was given a grim outlook because everyone knows stage IV is not curable. It tends to keep coming back somewhere in your body and theirs no rhyme or reason to it, it can come back next week or 20 yrs from now. So for the rest of my days here I will always have breast cancer hanging over my head. I wonder often "what did I do?" the answer I get is nothing, one in 8 women will get this that's a staggering statistic. There has to be something in our environment doing this to us. I was genetically checked and I was negative for breast cancer gene.

Thought out my ordeal I have said I will go down fighting if at all! I am a recording artist and a nurse who has shown everyone strangers and friends that if you fight you win no matter what the outcome. I dragged myself into the recording studio with chemo on board, surgery on board,I had drains hanging out of me, binders on, I was so sick but i went anyway. My producer Frank Starchak put his chin in his hands when i walked out of the recording booth after recording a wailing rock song. He looked and me and said " I know your hurting and I cant believe you, you just wailed out a rock song like no one would ever know how hurt you are." I just smiled I truly didn't get what he was saying back then because I was in a battle, the battle for my life, my dreams, my family, my friends, my fans. Most of all I am in a battle for all the women out there who are fighting for their dreams and lives right now, you know them, they are your mothers,sisters,aunts,cousins,friends,they are strangers with the same cause to eradicate breast cancer.

Next time you see a woman dressed in pink with a scarf on her head stop her and say "keep fighting,I'm praying for you." those words may give her the strength to keep fighting, because chemo is not for wimps it is hard, there are days you'd rather die, so your words though you might think don't matter your a stranger, they do matter . When I look in the mirror I don't see me any more all my beautiful hair is gone, no eyelashes, no eyebrows, puffed up from steroids, I have no control over what they have made me look like on the outside. We do know people by how they look and my hair was "me" it was the one thing I loved about me, I inherited from my grandmother. Strangers would stop me and compliment me on my beautiful hair that was down almost to my waist. Am I grateful to be alive 'YES!" am i mad "YES" I once explained to someone when they Asked me "why complain about your hair your alive aren't you grateful for that?" Imagine your in your home, someone comes in, and shaves off all your hair without your permission, your now bald, it may have taken 10 yrs to grow all that hair, how do you feel?" YOUR PISSED BELIEVE ME!

Do something for the women you see dressed in pink with the scarf on her head, i cant tell you how many strangers have stopped their busy lives and did even the smallest thing that has meant so much to me that I have cried tears of joy to know there are people in the world who care. I am not a freak with a scarf on her head , you cant catch what I have but your loved ones can get this too it can be you or your family, or your friends. I was 100% healthy until 2008 and since then my world has been turned inside out. Don't say be positive to me, I am positive,I'm positive I'm going to fight this, and I'm sure a cure is coming, even the most positive fighters can die from breast cancer its a GOD AWFUL DISEASE help us fight for a cure.If you go to my website http://www.myspace.com/micheleannn you can hear the song I co wrote for my breast cancer sisters, God has given me the opportunity to use a gift he gave me to BE A VOICE for all who are fighting, I hope to be their hope. Cancer tried to take my Voice GOD had a different idea.