Boobs On Ice™

The Inheritance of Regina Brett

 

Regina Brett talks about breast cancer

 

Would you want to know?

Would you want to know if you carried a gene for a potentially fatal disease?

If you found out you had that gene, would you want your child to know if she carried it, too?

It's a terrible legacy to pass on. A mutation in every single cell
of your body. I have one. It's called BRCA1. It's one of the breast
cancer genes.

There are so many traits I want to pass on to my daughter. A gene for a fatal disease isn't one of them.

Ten years ago, I wrote four columns after being diagnosed with
breast cancer. Today I present four columns about what my daughter
inherited from me. These were far more difficult to write.

Our story begins with a test.

• Part 1: The test
• Part 2: The choice
• Part 3: The surgery
• Part 4: The victory
• Epilogue: The final word Has your family been touched by breast cancer? Share your stories in the comments area below.

The Inheritance - Regina Brett, Plain Dealer Columnist

Where and What is the Paradigm Shift Oncologists Expect in Understanding and Treating Cancer?

 

Dr. Larry Norton, Oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center / Dr. Lynn Schuchter, Oncologist, University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center / Carol Hochberg, SHARE / Dr. Dennis Slamon, Oncologist  Revlon  UCLA Womens' Cancer Research Program with interviewer Charlie Rose, discussing the paradigm shift in cancer discoveries and understanding that are occurring at that moment in labs around the world, and that they predicted would continue to bear significant fruit for the following 12 to 24 months - Interview from August 2007

Second half, interview about global communications with  Peter Chernin, President & Chief Operating Officer, News Corp.

 

 

Can You Find Cancer Here?

From Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns originally from Hospital Cancer de Barretos comes this breast cancer poster.

Click to zoom in and you'll see that the word cancer is very well hidden in the word BREAST.

Hard to detect . . . Just Like In Reality And worth talking about.

 

Your Power of Communication: SharingHope.tv

Disclaimer: Although I worked with the American Cancer Society's High Plains' Division on this project, I'd be telling you that it's something special in any case. Besides my part was very minor.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not really geeky enough to do any of the tech part of what makes this something I think has potential. But I'm a person who believes in the power of communication. Sharing Hope tv has that covered and more.

What Sharing Hope TV allows cancer patients and their families to do is to share their stories, communicate their pain and joy and triumphs and disappointments, and learn from others' stories. It's got much more to offer than platitudes, brochures, a disembodied voice on the telephone.

As the press release explains, the hope is that this effort will

"...help connect cancer survivors, their friends and family members. SharingHope.tv allows users to upload video, audio, photos and artwork to tell their stories of cancer. Innovative for a non-profit organization, the new site relies almost completely on people outside of the organization to create its content.

Resource: Press release: American Cancer Society Channel for Cancer Stories

Website: http://www.sharinghope.tv/

I hope you'll take a peek and get familiar with what they are doing here, and that you will pass the press release and the website URL on to anyone you think may benefit.

Please continue to talk and to reach out. Please continue to share how this subject has touched your life and those around you.

Without communication, the fight against cancer, and it's effects on lives and families has little chance of succeeding.

WUSA tv Meets My Frozen Pea Supporters

Video best viewed with Firefox browser

For more information about the frozen pea phenomenon and the wonderful pea supporters see the Frozen Pea Fund Blog which includes a link to help to the American Cancer Society via the Frozen Pea Fund, links to images of the wonderful supportive PEAple who sport PEA themed images online, and ways you can get involved.

For information about breast cancer resources see the right columns of this blog.

Thanks to

• Channel 9 WUSA for seeing the merit of this story and keeping at me until I did it;
• anchor Anita Brikman and producer Lauren Vance who were fun to work with and easy to entertain;
• Connie Reece, Cathleen Rittereiser, Chel Pixie, Ryan Karpeles and all the others who I don't even know about who work to make the peafund not only a surprise to me but an amazing success that is just gaining momentum;
• Kate Reynolds and Erin Kotecki Vest who run interference for me, answer questions about and for me, make sure bases are covered and try to read my mind every day of the week;
• Kathy Jacobs who worked to get permission to post the video and create the code to get it on the page (totally beyond my ability)
• and to all the PEAple who upload their PEAvatars, knit for me, bake for me and send cards and goodies to show their support

Last, and often left out, thanks to Bill Reynolds who not only works hard managing Legum and Norman's DC area Community Management department so he can buy the peas, but came home and put them in a baggie for me in the first place.

Cross Punch to "drive-through" Mastectomies

Desperate Housewives' Marcia Cross who has several friends who survived breast cancer said she can't imagine how someone can go home the same day after losing one or both breasts. "I tried to imagine losing a foot and then (people) saying, `OK, now go home.' ... It's just really unfathomable," she said.

Cross came to Washington with a petition signed by 20 million individuals collected by Lifetime television on their Web site.

The petition supports legislation that would let a woman and her doctor decide when it's time to go home.

washingtonpost.com reports that

The 45-year-old actress was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, lobbying Congress to pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 to end "drive-through" mastectomies for women forced to leave the hospital hours after surgery.

A WUSA channel 9 video covers the Cross visit to DC and the issue as well

Forward Podcast Interview: inspirational story of the power of connection

If you missed this interview - I'd love to have you hear the heartwarming chat I had with writer Craig Colgan who had written the story of Susan and the peas for the Washington Post, and  Paull Young the intrepid blogger / podcaster who wouldn't let Craig turn down doing a live interview about the story behind the story.

Hear it here: Forward Blog  Podcast

As Paul says in his introduction on his blog

"Forward Podcast 38 is an inspirational story of connection as Paull Young takes a look at the Frozen Peas Community that has risen up in support of Susan Reynolds.

"Susan blogs at Case Notes from the Artsy Asylum and is recognized as one of the ‘most loved’ members of the Twitter Community. In December Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer - a journey she has been tracking at a new blog, Boobs on Ice and via her extensive Twitter network. As Susan began her personal battle, a remarkable story of connection and community sprung up as her online friends activated a support network through Twitter and other blogs in solidarity with Susan.

"This resulted in the Frozen Pea Fund, a fundraising effort to support breast cancer research. If you’re new to this story, it has already been told better than I am able in the Washington Post. The author of that Washington Post piece, Craig Colgan (who also blogs at The Municipalist), joins us for this podcast as he discusses how he found this story through social media, took it through the editorial process and then joined the Twitter community (as @ccwriter) to follow the story even further.

"It’s an inspirational story of the power of connection, caring and community. The story still continues and you can be a part of it by supporting the Frozen Pea Fund in any way you are able."