VOICES Volume 11 reast Number 1 Spring 2010 ancer of the ribbon oalition of ochester Spring Is... In this Issue... A Time For Renewal Above & Beyond Award...Cover Mission Statement ....... 2 Executive Director ....... 2 A Personal Journey . 3 How Lucky Young Survivors........4-5 We Are! Advocacy Day..........6-7 written by Niki MacIntyre BRCAI and BRCAII . .8 Programs Update........9 There is nothing more uplifting Valued Volunteers....... 10 during these gray winter months then enjoying a good, well-earned party. Healthy You . 12 We did our best to gather together Newly Diagnosed Advice. 13 the best group of volunteers that any New Program ..........14 organization ever had and fete them Cosmetic Connection . 15 with a Volunteer Recognition Party. Holiday Open House . 16-17 We simply don’t have enough words to convey our appreciation for these good Book Club . 18 people, so we thought we’d thank them Our Programs . .20-21 with food and drink. St. Patrick’s Day Friends Remembered ..22-23 presented the awesome opportunity to Fundraising Friends...24-25 Above & Beyond Award recipient, Joyce Wichie let our volunteers know how “lucky” Our Donors . 26-28 we are to have them. In addition to honoring all our volunteer superheroes, we awarded special Upcoming Events....... 30 kudos to several hard-working volunteers who have shared so much of their Support BCCR......... 31 time and energy with us. We were pleased and honored to present Joyce Wichie Marlin Johnson . .Back Cover with the 2009 “Above and Beyond” award to thank her for truly going above and beyond on behalf of the Breast Cancer Coalition. In addition to serving as continued on page 11 SAVE THE DATE: The Pink Ribbon Run & Family Fitness Walk May 9, 2010 ur Executive Director Volume 11 Number 1 Spring 2010 O VOICES of the Ribbon The Newsletter of the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester Holly Anderson Our Mission is to provide support to those touched by a diagnosis of breast can- cer, to make access to information and care a priority through education and advocacy, If it is Spring in Rochester, you can rest assured that breast cancer and to empower women and men to par- advocates are hard at work. Among the emerging crocuses, daffodils ticipate fully in decisions relating to breast and forsythia are both seasoned and emerging breast cancer advocates cancer. ready to pound the pavement and knock on doors, all in an effort to ensure that our elected officials and our community-at-large are Board of Directors: informed about breast cancer and breast cancer issues. It is true what Chair Anne-Marie Strasenburgh you’ve heard. Breast Cancer exists all year long, not just in October. Past Chair Joyce Wichie On a recent chilly morning, twenty-three breast cancer advocates, Vice Chair Melisande Bianchi including a Rochester RazorShark Basketball Team member, hopped Treasurer Debra Kusse a bus at 5:00 a.m. and made their way to Albany. Why? They were Secretary Mary Carafos joining the New York State Breast Cancer Support & Education Advocacy Marianne Sargent Network (NYSBCSEN) for our Annual Breast Cancer Advocacy Day. Major Funds Patricia Cataldi The NYSBCSEN is comprised of twenty-three grassroots, community- Chair Emeriti Phyllis Connelly and Sylvia Cappellino based, breast cancer-related organizations and advocacy groups. Each President, Holly Anderson year, our member organizations provide support and education services Ex Officio to over 100,000 people affected by breast cancer in communities that stretch from Buffalo to Long Island. In Albany, we gathered in The Staff: Well of the Legislative Office Building to hear experts from across the Executive Director, Holly Anderson state speak about our priority issues. (Story, page 6) Office Manager, Janet Wolf In February, we sent two of our young breast cancer survivors, Program Coordinator, Tracey Knapton Jen Schoen and Carrie Dailor, to the 10th Annual Conference for Special Events-Development, Amy Connell Young Women Affected by Breast Cancer, held in Atlanta, Georgia. Outreach Coordinator, Niki MacIntyre The psychosocial and medical issues are fundamentally different for Communications, Susan Meynadasy women under the age of 45 than those of their older post-menopausal Special Events, Kim Kircher counterparts, as is the impact of the diagnosis on family, friends, Newsletter Editor: Susan Meynadasy partners and children. Jen and Carrie spent three days learning about PALS Coordinator: Pat Battaglia the latest medical, psychosocial and practical information from Technical Support: Alex Cheek nationally acclaimed breast cancer experts. They attended workshops relevant to the recently diagnosed, those who have completed treatment, BCCR extends a hearty thank you to our and those living with metastatic disease. They were also given plenty regular office volunteer Shawna Poisson! Also, welcome to our newest staff member, continued on page 11 Pat Battaglia. PLEASE EXCUSE OUR ERROR Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester 840 University Avenue From the Winter issue: Rochester, NY 14607 • The caption name on the cover should read Office: 585-473-8177 Susanne Callan-Harris Fax: 585-473-7689 • All photographs of the ARTrageous Affair were taken by Online at www.bccr.org photographer, Cynthia Fay 2 APersonal Journey Yvette Jackson written by Pat Battaglia In her career as a professional health care advocate, Yvette Jackson is comfortable helping others navigate serious health issues. But the tables were turned when she was faced with her own diagnosis of breast cancer. Yearly mammograms were a matter of course for her, and on several occasions, benign cysts were detected During the months of treatment, Yvette developed and removed. Then, with no sign of anything to raise coping mechanisms for dealing with the fears and the concern, Yvette went for a routine mammogram that led hard days. In the same manner that she had worked to her life-altering diagnosis. constructively toward resolving her financial problems, “At first, I was numb,” she says. “I was going she began to work on the emotional issues that she had set through emotions, but I couldn’t identify those aside. Scrapbooking and journaling became her outlets, emotions.” Despite her background as an advocate for and Yvette found her spirituality taking on new depth as others, she found it difficult to advocate for herself. A she relied on her faith to help her through. In her words, self-supporting woman who lives on her own, Yvette she began to “turn a negative into a positive,” and turned faced financial difficulties as a result of her diagnosis. her focus inward toward the mind/body/spirit connection. For a time, money issues took center stage, and pushed After all, she notes, “If your spirit is not well, you can’t be more personal well.” concerns aside. To “There is therapeutic value in one She had finished chemo help cope with the and was in radiation when demands of frequent supporting the other.” she attended her first Brown doctor appointments, Bag Friday lunch. She had Yvette gratefully relied on her daughter and a cousin never been part of a support group before, and Yvette was to accompany her, regarding them as her “voice.” They apprehensive, uncertain about what to expect. Overcoming listened and asked questions as she pieced together the her doubts, she walked into the lunch that day feeling a strategy to fight her cancer. complicated mix of emotions, and remembers that the In her medical team, Yvette found people who experience was “uplifting.” She was among a group of genuinely cared about her. Through diagnosis, surgery, women who listened with respect and empathy to her chemo, and radiation, she came to see her health care concerns. It was a safe place to express her fear, anger, and providers as a group of professionals who clearly saw uncertainty. “There is therapeutic value in one supporting their work as more than just a job. She established the other,” she says. Brown Bag lunches became her steady genuine human connections with them, forging a date every Friday at noon, and she treasured those times, therapeutic alliance that became another step forward on leaving with all the positive energy she had gathered in the the path to healing. group to strengthen her throughout the week. h Yvette references Brown Bag Friday in the above story. What is Brown Bag Friday? Beginning at noon on Fridays at BCCR, you will find a supportive, non-judgmental group of women (a variety of breast cancer survivors – some newly diagnosed, some in treatment, some several years out) conversing over whatever they have brought to eat for lunch & coffee, tea, and dessert made possible by a donation from a Brown Bag Friday Lunch sponsor. Our topics are varied! This is a non-traditional breast cancer support group hosted by BCCR staff. There is no need to call ahead or RSVP. Just grab a sack lunch and join us! 3 ews on N The 10th Annual Conference for Young Women Affected bt Breast Cancer by Jen Schoen and Carrie Wozniak Held in Atlanta, Georgia in Jen’s Reflections... February & Presented by: I received an email from Holly at the BCCR wondering if I would be interested in attending the Young Women Affected By Breast Cancer conference in Atlanta. I read it and instantly smiled to myself. I had just listened to Barbara Brenner speak on NPR debating the terminology of a cancer “survivor”, as often used to mention someone who has received a cancer diagnosis. Barbara felt that the term “survivor” toe in pink? These thoughts were was a label of false hope and suggests quickly laid to rest upon registration that the cancer is behind them and and the branding of the green lei. they are cured. She felt that she was Each member in attendance of the no better than someone who had conference was given a lei to wear lost their battle with the disease, in a specific color, signifying their just luckier.