Be All You Can Be... in the Army of Women

October is breast cancer awareness month in the USA, as I'm sure all of you know. It's almost impossible these days to not be bombarded by pink everywhere you go!

The success of the breast cancer awareness movement in the last 20 years or so has been truly remarkable and inspiring (if a little envy-inducing for those of us who advocate primarily for another type of cancer). Huge scientific progress has been made thanks to the hundreds of millions of dollars (if not more) that have been raised by various breast cancer organizations, like Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Avon Foundation.

There is a new initiative on the breast cancer scene this year, and it's a revolutionary one! The Army of Women, a joint initiative of the Avon Foundation and the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, has set a goal of recruiting one MILLION healthy women to volunteer for breast cancer prevention research studies. The Army of Women launch was recently announced on the Today Show (click here to see!).

Leave it to women to take such an incredibly proactive approach in helping to eradicate this devastating disease. Very cool.

For more information, and to join the Army of Women, click here.

You go girls!

Here is What Cancer is, By the Way.

I have to point out this article (and its multimedia incarnation online) from the June 23 issue of Newsweek. The article is cowritten by Robert A. Weinberg - a name I knew sounded familiar to me - the author of One Renegade Cell, one of the books on my reading list. And frankly, after reading this article, I'm not sure I even need the book (but of course I will). This article gives a great, concise, easy to understand introduction to what cancer is, how it starts, and the lifestyle choices that are in our control to lessen our chances of getting it.

One of my initial motivations for starting this blog was that I, a passionate cancer advocate, could not answer this simple question: What is cancer?

I'm getting there though, and I could probably explain it myself, because for such a complex disease, it starts quite simply - but I'll leave it to Dr. Weinberg this time:

"All tumors begin with one renegade cell [and yes, quoting his own book title is what led me to realize who he was]. Initially the cell is just one of about 30 trillion or so in the body. It looks no different from the cells around it, and, like those cells, it divides only if the organ it's part of needs it to divide. Then, even though the organ around it has enough cells, the renegade cell begins to multiply uncontrollably: one cell becomes two, two become four, four become eight, until the descendants are beyond counting."

It sounds so simple, doesn't it? No wonder Nixon declared the War on Cancer in 1971 - a disease that starts with just one stupid, ugly, mutant cell with a bad attitude should be easy enough to cure, right?

Yeah, not so much.

So what can we do, Dr. Weinberg? He says we can stop smoking (duh), eat foods that don't have a bunch of creepy chemicals in them (duh), and get off our butts on a regular basis (duh). This is not news to me, and it's probably not news to you. But apparently Americans can't hear this enough - our most present cancers (breast, colon, prostate) occur at a fraction of our rate in other parts of the world.

This article may not be groundbreaking, but I sure hope a lot of people read it. If my cancer reading has taught me anything, it's that this disease has a nasty way of striking at random and without bias. But there are fundamental things we can do to prevent cancer - and it goes without saying that we need to be doing them.

I suppose I won't be going out for fish 'n chips for dinner after all.

More Boobs! (A Book Review: Part II)

Now that I have slept on Bathsheba's Breast - or, well, on my thoughts about this book, I mean - I have come to the conclusion that, although it is not an easy read, this is a truly remarkable book. And I might be a little oversensitive because a) I am a woman with breasts, and b) I take my cancer reading very personally. So there. I admit it.

When I go back through the notes I took on each chapter of this book and attempt to digest everything I learned, I am almost overwhelmed with knowledge and awareness. I feel that now I have a solid knowledge of the history of this disease and also an awareness of the bigger picture: how breast cancer has evolved from being the original cancer, the only one known for generations because it could be seen without an x-ray or an autopsy, to setting the standard for cancer research, treatment, awareness, and advocacy. Olson covers this evolution in depth, and although he chronologically bounces around a bit, his efforts are fairly extraordinary.

In an attempt to be fairly concise... here are some very valuable things I learned from this book (with links to Wikipedia if you're interested):

• Breast cancer has taken the lives of countless notable women, from Theodora (wife of Justinian I) to Adolf Hitler's mom to Linda McCartney.
• Hippocrates named cancer for "karkinos" or "crab" because tumors seemed to have tentacles that resembled crabs' legs.
• Mastectomies were being performed in Germany as early as the 1600s! Yikes.
• And these surgeries were performed without anesthesia - that didn't come into the picture until 1846.
  
• William Steward Halsted invented the radical mastectomy (removal of breast, axillary bodes, both chest muscles in a single en bloc procedure - I didn't know what it was, either) in the 1880s. He was also a coke addict. Oops.
• By the mid-1950s, a variety of surgeries were being used on women, sometimes in succession, with each being more gruesome than the last. Needless to say, faith in doctors and science at this time was very, very high.
• Radiation also came into use in the 50s and 60s - but mortality rates for each of these treatments (radiation, radical surgery, lumpectomy, etc.) were similarly high.
• This is gross: due to the high mortality rates, every country except for the US opted for the less invasive treatments. American surgeons (most of whom were male) were the last to cling to the radical mastectomy.
• Luckily, the feminism movement gained momentum in the 60s, and empowered women were on a roll by the time Nixon announced the "War on Cancer" in 1971.
• Women like Shirley Temple Black, Happy Rockefeller, and Betty Ford started speaking out about their diagnoses in the 70s. Amazing and so brave.
• Rose Kushner was an incredible cancer advocate who took control of her diagnosis and treatment. Her courage paved the way for other women to have more control over their treatment options. Kushner was diagnosed in 1974 and died in 1990.
• Ruth Handler, the inventor of the Barbie doll, lost one breast to cancer in 1970, and the other in 1989. She started a breast prothesis company and was another incredible advocate.
• Breast cancer has been riddled with controversy for decades, but the disease has made its way into mainsteam consciousness, which ultimately bodes well for the cause.

Phew! And there is more where that came from. A highly recommended read indeed. I just hope that someday a book with this depth and detail will be written about colon cancer.

Boobs Boobs Boobs (A Book Review: Part I)

One of the greatest accomplishments of the breast cancer movement (besides, you know, the gazillions of dollars that have been raised for research, the groundbreaking treatments that have emerged, and the tens of thousands of lives that are being saved as a result) is that people are no longer embarrassed to talk about boobs.

I have participated in many breast cancer race events in New York City, and I remember the last time seeing a group of women walking the race course wearing hats in the shape of bared breasts - yes, naked boobs, nipples and all. How great is that?

Part of me is envious of this movement, I have to say. Only because colon cancer is my own personal cause, to which I owe my life's greatest heartbreak, and I want people talking about butts the way they talk about breasts. I think this is happening, slowly but (I hope) surely. The Colon Cancer Alliance is starting a race event called the Undy 5000, in which participants are encouraged to run/walk in their underwear. I think this is pretty genius and I hope the event will go far in getting people comfortable talking about butts and cancer. The less fear we have in addressing these topics, the more empowered we become.

But back to boobs.

Bathsheba's Breast, by James S. Olson, was the second book in my cancer curriculum. Compared to One in Three, this read was a little harsh. If Adam Wishart had been holding my hand as I tiptoed into the acquisition of some solid knowledge about this disease, then Olson threw me into an ice bath. That's not to say I did not enjoy the book - in fact I learned a great deal from it - but it was a toughie.

Reading this book, especially as a woman, felt at times like having a male doctor with little bedside manner. Olson talks about horrible breast tumors and surgeries as if discussing a baseball game. It's gruesome stuff and he makes no apologies for that. That being said, it also gives what I have to trust is a realistic account of the toll this disease took on women hundreds (and, indeed, thousands) of years ago, which is key to truly grasping how far we have come in treating cancer. I just had to read the book in smallish doses because of its graphic nature. But ultimately, Olson sets an example for the rest of us to not be afraid to talk about cancer.

In fact, the book begins with a discussion of his own cancer - a sarcoma in his arm that recurred while researching and writing Bathsheba's Breast. Olson lost his left arm to cancer, and says, "Although I know nothing of what it is like to lose a breast, I do understand... the anxiety of confronting one's own mortality, and the trauma of saying goodbye to a body part."

Heavy stuff. And in the interest of small doses, I will continue the review tomorrow...

Cancer Quote Friday!

As we greet another fabulous Friday, with brains fried by the week and flitting toward the weekend, it is my pleasure to offer someone else's wisdom for your consideration.*

"Cancer is a stubborn disease, revealing its secrets grudgingly, and scientific progress is measured in inches, or better yet, in extra days survived. In a country conditioned to extraordinary success - to conquering the wilderness, to winning wars, to putting men on the moon - a country where most people count on getting their own way, cancer's intransigence bears witness to human frailty. "

- James S. Olson, Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History

Book review coming next week!

*Read: I may or may not be feeling too lazy to write my own post. I think I will stick with this theme for Fridays from now on...

Back to work! (A Book Review)

Ok, it's been awhile since I've hit the books - well, cancer books at least. I've taken a slight vacay from the heavy reading and have been thoroughly enjoying Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (See? I'm not just a nerd, I'm also a girl!) but as my school year approaches there is still a lot I need to learn.

So to get myself back in the mood, I'll post a couple reviews of books I've read this year. I am eager to hear if anyone out there has also read these books, so please leave your comments!

First up: One in Three: A Son's Journey into the History and Science of Cancer by Adam Wishart.

Frankly, I could not have kicked off my quest to learn about cancer with a better book for me. I had just moved to the UK from New York City, and lo and behold, Wishart is a British TV producer. I felt right at home, both in my new home and in my new book.

Wishart masterfully weaves together anecdotes of his father's cancer battle with his own fearless quest to learn about the documented history of the disease that was slowly breaking down his father's body. His ultimate take on the whole thing is this:

"We need desperately, therefore, to learn how to talk about cancer and to regard it no longer as a painful taboo. There is an urgent need to do so, because each of us will one day be touched by the disease, as one in three people will be diagnosed with it within their lifetimes. It is time to understand that cancer is becoming a disease to live with rather than only die from."

Word!

I couldn't have said it better myself.

After reading this book I felt like I had a very good understanding of the basic history of cancer - when it was first documented (a malignant tumor scar on the jawbone of Homo erectus?!); how treatments began and (thankfully) have progressed over hundreds of years; cells, radiation, and chemo - oh my! And also Nixon's "War on Cancer," alternative medicine, genetics, the latest advances in treatment and the movement towards "living with cancer" instead of dying from it. Phew! Glad someone else has done all that research so I don't have to. I'll just read your books, thank you very much.

Needless to say, I was excited to find a kindred spirit in my first foray into cancer lit. I even emailed Adam to tell him as much. He never replied, but I am determined to not let that affect my feelings for this book. I am profoundly grateful for its existence and hope to be able to both teach about cancer and encourage others to approach the disease as fearlessly as Wishart exemplifies for us all.

Stand Up To Cancer

This is amazing!

I have just scratched the surface of this website, but WOW. On September 5, 2008, the US television networks ABC, CBS, and NBC are joining together to air a one-hour "interactive television special" that will hopefully raise gazillions of dollars for cancer research.

How cool that this unprecedented joint effort of the three major networks is focused on cancer. While there are plenty other causes out there that merit this kind of attention, of course I believe that cancer deserves it most, as it is a disease that does not discriminate, and attacks at random. While there are certain things we can do that can help ward off cancer, at the end of the day it affects us all somehow. I am thrilled that these networks have recognized the urgency of this cause. Kudos to the Entertainment Industry Foundation for making this happen.

Besides being a celebrity phonathon (ooh! I wonder who will be answering the phones! Makes me wish I were in the States... I will definitely be encouraging my friends and family to call in and donate), the special will also focus on the latest research and advances in conquering this disease.

This is fabulous. I am going back to the website right now to find out more!

The Interview

But back to my interview. The scholarship program is funded by a generous family whose wealth runs deep and wide (and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be a recipient of a teeny bit of it!). One of the final questions in my interview, administered by a couple of big-wig staff members of the MBA program, was this:

"Say you receive this scholarship, and this family invests, oh, 30,000 quid in you. What will be the return on their investment?"

Yikes.

But I rallied. Made a charming comment about how it's too bad I would never get to meet them because they'll miss out on my fabulous personality (which, now that I think about it, was actually kind of a dumb thing to say. Uy yuy yuy.) - but then -

"Frankly? Cancer." [Ack! Not that the members of this family will get cancer - oops.] "Being a cancer advocate is not easy work. Devoting my life to working to eradicate a disease that has no cure, and that will affect everyone in the world in some way, and to which I have such a personal connection, is not an easy thing for me to do. Each time I read a book on cancer, I have to alternate with an easy beach read to decompress a bit -" [TMI. Damn.] "But there is great work to be done. There are lives to be touched, and changed, and improved, and I know that making those personal connections will sustain me throughout my career. I can think of nothing greater than helping to support those who are faced with cancer while educating others and working to eradicate the disease itself. I can think of nothing I would rather do. It's not an easy route, but I know there are great rewards in store."

Huh. Well, I can't say I nailed it. But I was me. And all I can do now is hope that fam decides to toss a little dough my way.