Today I move into my 65th year of life. The shock of receiving my Medicare card is still reverberating in my head. Well, not really, because I am so happy to still be here for my 65th year. I wasn’t sure I would be.
My doubt started when I was 38 years old in 1987 and heard the words “you have breast cancer”. Now that was a true shock to the body, mind and spirit. I had just spent two years finishing my college degree and had started a new job. My husband was well into his career as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Life was good.
In the blink of an eye, my life turned upside down and like the other women each year who hear those words, I placed myself in the hands of a surgeon. I completed the recommended treatment, read Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book and returned to my life for 22 years believing that I was “cured”. How very lucky was I?
It is fitting that I write my first blog post today, April 1 because it was April 1, 2009, 22 years later at age 60 when I heard those words again. A new diagnosis, unrelated to the first, a totally different subtype.
A couple of months later, one of my sisters called to tell me that she had just been diagnosed…age 38. Through her treatment process, we learned that we three sisters and a first cousin are BRCA 1. Too late for me but good for my sisters and cousin to know.
Throughout my second treatment and my sister’s treatment, I knew that I could no longer believe that I or she was cured and that my sisters, cousins and nieces were “safe”. This time, I had to find a way to work toward ending this dreadful disease. I learned about the advocacy work of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) and Dr. Susan Love’s Army of Women. I joined both and launched myself into the world of breast cancer advocacy and it has been one of the best decisions in my 65 years.
Today, April 1, 2014, I am writing this blog to share one of the most important developments in breast cancer research. No, it is not a new toxic treatment that leaves us with collateral damage. It is a revolutionary approach that will change the breast cancer research communities nationwide to re-focus their efforts on knowing how to prevent it and knowing why tumors lie dormant for twenty plus years. Drum roll please…..it is The Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act and it is making its way through the halls of Congress at this very moment.
Have you heard of it? I first learned about it when I joined NBCC and again last May when I attended NBCC’s Annual Leadership Conference in D.C. I learned more about it when I attended the NBCC Lobby Day on Capitol Hill as part of the leadership conference. More about that to come.
Through this blog, I will be sharing with you what the ACT is about, what the ACT will do, and why we need this ACT. You will know whether or not your Congressional Representatives have supported it. Most importantly, I know you will want to join me in my efforts to get this ACT through Congress to become a reality in 2014 and I’ll be sharing with you ways that you can be part of ACTing to End Breast Cancer.
