My mother-in-law is one of the beautiful women in this photograph.

The photograph was taken this past summer, in our home town of Pittsburgh, by Sports Illustrated photojournalist Lynn Johnson.

Lynn spent quite a bit of time following the Steel City Dragons this summer, documenting their practices and meets both here and in Chattanooga. Steel City, for the record, went on to win first place in the Chattanooga, competition. Sports Illustrated later went on to run an article profiling the team’s training sessions, competition successes at Nationals, and the strength and camaraderie that make Pink Steel special.

These aren’t just ordinary women. These are the kind of women who schedule mastectomy’s around their sports schedule. These are the kind of women who look “that cancer stuff” in the face and simply say, I do not have time for you.

My mother in law was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, several years before I met my husband. She fought hard, and has been in remission for years. We recently celebrated her fifth year cancer free, which is a huge accomplishment and something she should be proud of. We’re proud of her. I’m proud to call her my mother in law, and I’m proud to know someone who is such a survivor. She is the kind of person who refuses to cry, refuses to frown, and always has a happy smile on her face.

Pink Steel has grown to more than 50 women, ranging in age from twentysomething to seventysomething, of all shapes and sizes, representing the entire trajectory of breast cancer. Some of them were fortunate enough to detect a lump early and incur only psychic scars; others have undergone double mastectomies and are just weeks removed from chemo. Regardless, they all have warmed to competitive sports. They schedule their lives around the thrice-weekly practices. They watch their diets. They attend preseason training camp. They show up for off-season workouts, held in the converted weight room in their coach’s garage.

In honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’ve designed four FREE pritnable notecards. They are a finished size of 4×3 and can be printed on card stock then cut to size.

I teamed up with Christine from Better Bit of Butter, who has made gorgeous pink ribbon cookies this month.

You can download these FREE cards directly from my website.