Dr. Susan Neibur, Planetary scientist, writer, mother, wife, friend

" I am not blogging goodbyes. I am not saying goodbye to you yet. I won’t."Susan Neibur was nearing the end, but she would not give up on life. She wrote these words to her husband and to her readers, in the last blog entry she published on January 22nd.

Susan Neibur, a four-time cancer survivor and mother of two has lost her battle against cancer. Susan Neibur, passed away February 6, 2012. Susan's battle began at 34 when she was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer, (IBC) a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.

Susan Neibur journaled on IBCThe following is a quote piece taking from her blog.

" Inflammatory breast cancer is the rarest and most deadly of the breast cancers.  It strikes young women as often as older women, breastfeeding mothers as often as grandmothers, and women with and without a history of breast cancer in their family.  It does not always form a lump in the breast.  Instead, it forms in sheets and nests in the lymphatic system of the skin, appearing only after it clogs the lymph system with cancer, causing the skin to swell and turn red as if in anger.

Sometimes, it appears first as a mark like a bug bite, or a bruise that just won’t heal.  Sometimes, the texture of the skin changes first, becoming tough, hard, or with little dimples like an orange peel.  Sometimes, it feels thick to the touch, or hot, or just … different.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis, especially in nursing women.  The important thing to know is, if you are diagnosed with mastitis and it doesn’t clear up with 10 days of antibiotics, SOMETHING ELSE may be wrong.  Please, please go back to your OB/GYN or other health care professional and talk to her again.  Ask her for tests to rule out inflammatory breast cancer.  Tell her that you’re worried, that something just isn’t right.  Insist on futher tests and a skin and/or core biopsy.  Because each week that you delay is a week that this cancer will grow and expand and be just that much harder to eradicate". VISIT SUSAN NIEBUR TO READ MORE

For more information, please visit:

• The National Cancer Institute;
• The Mayo Clinic;
• The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation;
• The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Association;
• The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation;
• The Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Fact Sheet on IBC;

Susan will be dearly missed and dearly remembered.