BY KATHY KUPKA

My name is Kathy Kupka. I am a photographer living in Leesburg, Virginia, and have been in remission from Multiple Myeloma for thirteen years. I decided to self publish a photo book about the side effects I experienced from my cancer treatment using the expressions of the precious dogs in my portfolio to tell my story. Here’s part of my story:

In April 2001, I was photographing a young boy in my home studio, and decided to bring my Cockapoo, Buddie, to the photo session to make the boy laugh. When I bent over to pick up my little dog, I broke my collarbone.

My doctor told me I had Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. As he was reading the diagnosis of this cancer I never heard of, my husband was taking notes, and I just kept thinking, “What’s he going to say, 6 months, 12 months, how long do I have?” and then I heard him say, “There’s no cure, but there IS treatment.” Alright! Let’s get started!

Until treatment began I didn’t know about the side effects I would experience.

Along with my loving, supportive, caring family and friends, I had Buddie to comfort me during my treatments. I also had my photography to help keep me distracted.

I received many get well cards with images of dogs. They made me smile. I hope my photography of the dogs in this book will make you smile as well.

“Cancer is Ruff” is a hard back coffee table book including 82 images of different breeds of dogs. It sells for $19.99 each, and can be ordered by going to www.kathykupka.com, and clicking on Kathy’s Book, and Cancer is Ruff. Payment can be made by Paypal or credit card.