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April is Cancer Control Month

In honor of National Cancer Control Month, we’ve made CR’s special Cancer Prevention issue freely available. Learn what you can do to lower your risk of developing cancer or having a recurrence.

A Note From CR

This month is National Cancer Control Month. Not all cancers are preventable but many of them are. Tobacco is linked to at least 15 different cancers and 30 percent of cancer deaths. But tobacco use isn’t the only problem. Obesity contributes to more than 90,000 cases of cancer each year. And obesity doesn’t just increase cancer risk, it can make treatment more difficult and decrease the chances of survival.

It isn’t easy to quit smoking or lose weight, but take heart, even small changes can make a difference. And if you’re a smoker and would like to quit, here are some tips that can help.

Visit the following sites for information about cancer control:

NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences

CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control

• Carol Levine; January 2004. Always on call:  when illness turns families into caregivers.2^nd Edition. Vanderbilt university press

• Hester Hill Schnipper, Lowell E Schnipper. September 2006 : After Breast cancer. Bantam Books

A Common sense guide to life after cancer treatment.

• Robert Ross and Pamela Willsey, 2001. The Love Knot: Ties that Bind Cancer Partners. Jones & Bartlett Pub. This book is devoted primarily to the partner’s side of the cancer story. It discusses the anger, support, fear, pain, uncertainty, and worry of the possible loss of the person loved most.

• Jan Latona and Gary Stricklin, 1999.Love is a Journey: Couples Facing Cancer. Greyrock Publishing.  This book presents six stages that couples often have to deal with.

Books for Teenagers:

• Judylaine Fine, 1999.Afraid to Ask: A Book About Cancer. BT Bound publication.For 12 years and older

• Linda Leopold Strauss, 2000. Coping When A Parent Has Cancer. Family Care Inc, 7710 Reading Rd, Suite 204, Cincinnati, OH 45237

• Elena Dorfman, October 1998. The C-Word: Teenagers & Their Families Living with Cancer. 2^nd Edition. Elena Dorfman

• Talking with Children about a Loved One’s Cancer” information guide with your colleagues. It is available free on our site at:
  http://www.cancer.med.umich.edu/support/talking_with_children_about_cancer.shtml

Books for Children:

• Aliki, 1986. Feelings. Mulberry Paperback, New York.

• Ganz, Pam & Scofield, Tobi,1996. Life Isn’t Always A Day At The Beach: A Book For All Children Whose Lives Are Affected By Cancer. High Five Publishing, Lincoln, Nebraska.

• Harpham, Wendy Schlessel,1997.  Becky’s Worry Cup. Harper Collins, New York,  insert in Harpham’s When A Parent Has Cancer

• Kohlenberg, Sherry, 1993. Sammy’s Mommy Has Cancer. Magination.  New York.

• Lindberg, Carol, 1989.It Helps to Have Friends When Mom or Dad Has Cancer. American Cancer Society.

A story told from a child’s point of view; this pamphlet is most appropriate for children between the ages of 7-9 but can also be useful for older children.  Covers a wide range of issues which may disrupt a child’s life when a parent is ill and also illustrates the importance of talking with others who have similar experiences.

• Parkinson, Carolyn Stearns, 1995. My Mommy Has Cancer and

Mommy’s in the Hospital Again. Solace Publishing, Folsom.

• Sherkin-Langer, Ferne, 1995.  When Mommy Is Sick. Albert Whitman & Co.

• D.W. Steele and H.E. King, 1995. Kemo Shark .published by KidsCope,

A colour “comic book” designed to help children understand when a parent has cancer and undergoes chemotherapy.

• Laura Numeroff, Wendy Schlessel Harpham and David McPhail, 2001,The Hope Tree: Kids Talk About Breast Cancer. Simon & Schuster.

This book addresses many of the important issues that families find difficult to discuss when a parent has been diagnosed with cancer.  Through each vignette, the reader is exposed to numerous narrators with whom a child (or parent) may be able to identify.  Stories such as “The Day My Family Found Out” and “You Can’t Catch It” are some of the issues these authors tackle.  Written for ages 4-8.

Books for Parents

• American Cancer Society,1986. Helping Children to Understand: A Guide For A Parent With Cancer.

• Craig, Judi,1993. Little Kids, Big Questions. Hearst Books, New York.

• Harpham, Wendy Schlessel,1997. When a Parent Has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children. Harper Collins, New York.

Workbooks for Children :

• Kids’ Night Out. , and An illustrated journal designed to help adults and children talk to each other about the impact that cancer has had on all family members.  Addresses issues such as emotions, changes, reassurance family member’s experiences. To order, contact the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Dept of Social Work Services, PA, tel #: (215)728-2668.

• Life Isn’t Always a Day at the Beach:  A Book for All Children Whose Lives are Affected by Cancer by Pam Ganz. A workbook intended for the use of children ages 5-12 as a tool for expressing and sharing some of the many feelings and thoughts they may have in dealing with the diagnosis of cancer in the family.  It addresses some of the changes and adjustments required of members of a family through an invitation to draw, write, and think about the issues that may arise.  It is best used with an adult who can provide encouragement and support; available by contacting High Five Publishing, 4030 South 31^st St., Lincoln, Nebraska, 68502, tel #: (402) 489-6060

• Time For Me. By June Slakov, Sandra Rotholc, and Karen Janes.  An activity book for kids when someone in the family has cancer. (ISBN#: 1-896624-02-2).  BC Cancer Agency, Fraser Valley Cancer Centre, 13750 96^th Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia V3V 1Z2

Majority of these books are available on line through one of the following websites:

• Amazon.com
• Barnes and Noble.com
• Biblio.com

A soulful, surprising coming of age journey by a dynamo who used her own adversity as a platform for examining issues all young women face.

Having finished journalism school and landed her dream job at age 27, the last thing Geralyn Lucas expects to hear is a breast cancer diagnosis. She decides to go public with her disease despite fears about the backlash at work, and her bold choices in treatment are irreverent and uplifting. When her breast is under construction and her hair is falling out, her skirts get shorter. She goes to work every day and gets promoted. She has sex with her bandages on. She reinvents her beauty and in a bold move of conscious objection, forgoes the final phase of her breast reconstruction: the nipple. She is reborn in a tattoo parlor when she gets a heart tattoo where her nipple once was.

Geralyn recovers from her mastectomy and chemo and has a baby in the same hospital where she was treated for cancer. What could have been a huge negative for this young cancer survivor became the impetus to examine her own sexuality and burgeoning womanhood. Virtually nothing has been written for women of a young age who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. This book also deals with the broader issue of self-acceptance that anyone grappling with questions of illness, self-image and sexuality can identify with.

“WHY I WORE LIPSTICK”
By Geralyn Lucas

CR launched a digital edition of the magazine—a ‘read on your computer’ version of the magazine that looks just like the print edition but is delivered to subscribers via e-mail. A sample issue is available for you to enjoy here: http://www.crmagazine-digital.org/crmagazine/sample/

As a special offer to international advocates, 1-year subscriptions to the digital edition are available for just $17.95—more than 50% less than an international print subscription. Interested parties can take advantage of this special via this link: https://www.pubservice.com/casubnew.aspx?PC=CA&PK=MDGTL, which we encourage you to share.

Hearing the Stream

A Survivor’s Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer                        

By Diane Lane Chambers,  

Breast Cancer Survivor

Crafts Inspiring Chronicle

            CONIFER, COLORADO—Each year, according to the American Cancer Society, approximately 275,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer.  The lifetime risk for a woman of developing breast cancer is 1 in 7, and annually more than 40,000 women die of the disease.  Receiving a diagnosis of cancer can be shocking, frightening, and overwhelming.

            Diane Lane Chambers’ Hearing the Stream: A Survivor’s Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer weaves together the author’s own story of her struggle with breast cancer with those of five others also diagnosed, including one man. (Yes men can get breast cancer too.)  through each of their eyes Chambers brings to life the complexities of this disease, from its emotional and physical impact to its sometimes hidden historical, economic, political, and environmental dimensions.  Chambers shows how bonds of sisterhood develop among the survivors, making them all stronger and ironically, bringing a great deal that is positive into their lives.  The narrative dwells particularly on one, Harriette Grober, whose indomitable spirit in the face of twelve years of coping with metastatic cancer will serve as an inspiration to readers everywhere.

            Because of her grandmother’s and her own experiences with breast cancer, Chambers speaks with authority on this subject.  Her research and extensive involvement with survivors and cancer organizations allow her to provide a rich, mature perspective on the many complex facets of breast cancer.

            Here’s what some experts are saying about Diane Lane Chambers’ Hearing the Stream: A Survivor’s Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer:

“Written from the heart and well documented.”

—Kelly McAleese, MD, Diagnostic Radiology, Denver, Colorado

“[It] touches beneath the surface of this disease, sparking smiles and much emotion.”

—L.Michelle Bennett, PhD, research scientist, survivor, and teacher, Potomac, Maryland

“Harriette and the other women in Ms. Chambers’ book provide great inspiration to fight for what we need to eradicate: this terrible disease.”

—Karin Decker Noss, late President, Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation

“Accounts such as this of the human tool of breast cancer motivate me as a researcher—and should motivate us all—to redouble our many efforts to reduce further and

                                    someday eradicate this disease.”

—Tim Byers, MD, MPH, Professor, Colorado School of Public Health, Deputy Director of the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center

Hearing the Stream: A Survivor’s Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Purchase in bookstores or order on line at: www.ellexapress.citymax.com.

$19.95 original trade paperback,  328 pages, illustrations, ISBN 978-0-9760967-1-9, LCCN 2006910198

By postal: send check, purchase order, or U.S. money order for $19.95

(plus $5.25 shipping and handling plus $.92 tax for Colorado residents) to:

Ellexa Press LLC, 32262 Steven Way, Conifer, CO 80433.

Phone: 303 591-1040

Fax :  303 838-7010

Email:  dlc@ellexapress.citymax.com

Book Review by Allan Burns,

Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Sisterhood of Survivors

Hearing the Stream: a Survivor’s Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer by Diane Lane Chambers. $19.95 original trade paperback, ISBN 978-0-9760967-1-9, published by Ellexa Press LLC, 32262 Steven Way, Conifer, CO 80433, 303 591-1040.

             Like everyone else who receives a cancer diagnosis, Diane Chambers was initially shocked and scared. She knew only two people who had battled breast cancer: her grandmother and a judge in whose court she had worked as a sign language interpreter. Both had died.  Despite daily flashbacks to her grandmother’s tragic experience with disfiguring surgery, horrendous lymphedema in both arms, and burns from radiation, Diane accepted her diagnosis and began making decisions about what route to take with a competent team of doctors.  She chose the only treatment that made sense for her: a mastectomy and reconstruction.

            Six months later, as treatment and recovery began to fade like a bad dream, Diane began recovering her life.  She had worked as a sign language interpreter since 1977 and published an acclaimed account of her experiences, Words in My Hands (Ellexa Press, 2005).  But she soon learned that after cancer there was no going back to “life before cancer.”  There was only “life after cancer,”  and she quickly discovered it is not such a bad thing. She forged powerful bonds with a sisterhood of survivors—all people who had been through emotions and physical changes similar to her own.  From Kim she learned the issues facing young single women with breast cancer. From Pat she learned how older women cope with diagnosis and treatment and from Sue how the mother of a baby struggled to save her own life.  From Charlie she came to appreciate what men have to go through when diagnosed with a “female disease.”

Above all, from the extraordinary Harriette Grober, who had been on chemotherapy for an unprecedented nine years, she learned about a determination she had never imagined and how to be thankful and happy in each moment.  She also learned to take Harriette’s advocacy as a model and became involved herself in raising levels of political and social awareness about the disease.  Currently, Diane is an active member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the Association of Breast Cancer survivors and regularly participates in workshops, symposiums, and webcasts on cancer. 

Hearing the Stream, the fruit of all she has experienced and learned as a cancer survivor, is an inspiring book that weaves together her own story and those of five others, thereby providing multiple perspectives on a complex disease that can be as different as the individual people who acquire it.  As Dr. Tim Byers of the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center says, “Accounts such as this of the human toll of breast cancer motivate me as a researcher—and should motivate us all—to redouble our many efforts to reduce further and someday eradicate this disease.”

 All or part of this review may be used without further permission. 

Testimonials  from  Readers

 “Harriette and the other women in Ms. Chambers’ book provide great inspiration to fight for what we need to eradicate this terrible disease.”

            —Karin Decker Noss, President, Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation

“I was shocked to read how hard cancer is , and to realize how little those of us who have not had to deal with it closely know about the reality—which is the reason for this book, I expect.” 

            —Jean Silk, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

“I found this book demystifying and a real celebration”

            —Lisa Rigsby Petersen, daughter of Justice Linda T. Palmieri, Denver, CO           

“Written from the heart and well documented. Mostly,excellent.”

            —Kelly McAleese, M.D., Diagnostic Radiology, Denver, CO

“Hearing the Stream, A Survivor’s Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer, touches beneath the surface of this disease, sparking smiles, and much emotion.”

          —L. Michelle Bennett Ph.D., research scientist, survivor, and teacher, Potomac, MD.

“I could not put this book down.  Hearing the Stream made me appreciate so much more all that you (my sister) went through with cancer, and how powerful the bonds become between women who share this awful experience.  It is ironic how this terrible disease also has brought so much that is positive into your life.”

        —Jeanie Silk, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

When someone close to you who has cancer starts to talk about the disease, do you change the subject? Do you stand in silence, worried that you’ll say the wrong thing? If so, you share these feelings with many others.

When talking with someone who has cancer, it is important to listen. Try to hear and understand what the person is saying about how they feel. Don’t make light of what they are saying or try to change the way they are feeling or acting. Put your own feelings and fears aside. Let the person know that you are open to talking whenever he or she feels like talking. Or if the person doesn’t feel like talking, that’s OK too.

Here we will share some ideas on how to be supportive and helpful when you talk with someone who has cancer. You can learn how to make the person with cancer know that they have someone they can truly count on. We call this kind of communication “listening with your heart.”

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MBC/MBC_4x_listen_with_your_heart.asp?sitearea=MBC

“The book that breast cancer patients and their families have been waiting for.  Here’s a practical guide for the too many husbancs who will need it”

Cokie Roberts, news analyst
and breast cancer survivor

When Marc Silver’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer
three years ago, he was far from a perfect caregiver. He wished he
had a book to help him face the challenges ahead. Drawing upon
his skills as a consumer journalist at U.S. News & World Report, he has written BREAST CANCER HUSBAND: How to help Your Wife (and Yourself) Through Diagnosis, Treatment, and Beyond.

http://www.breastcancerhusband.com/

Your Breast Cancer Treatment Handbook has been called the most effective and empowering breast cancer book both by patients and healthcare professionals. This valuable book is designed for the newly diagnosed breast cancer patient. It provides the patient with current, easy-to-understand explanations of procedures and treatments; decision making guidelines; and inspirational encouragement as the patient progresses through the breast cancer experience. No treatment advice is given, allowing the treatment team and the patient to work as partners for the final treatment decisions. Survivors’ reassuring remarks appear throughout the book to offer support and encouragement.

http://www.educareinc.com/products_treatment_handbook.aspx

Helping Your Mate Face Breast Cancer is described as the essential “how-to” manual for support partners. It is a complete primer on disease and treatment options, sexual relationships after cancer, therapeutic communication guidelines and balancing daily living with the fear of recurrence. Illustrated procedures, a glossary and experiences from other partners make this book an invaluable resource for the support partner.

http://www.educareinc.com/helping_your_mate_face_breast_cancer.aspx

Men Against Breast Cancer is pleased and excited to announce the release of our book called, FOR THE WOMEN WE LOVE, A Breast Cancer Action Plan and Caregiver’s Guide For Men.

This is a no-nonsense navigation and survival guide for men who are committed to being there for the women they love. This book is a highly structured road map that will give you a better understanding of what the patient and caregiver are up against.

This book will give men the right tools to make a real difference in the quality of survivorship of the patient and family.

http://merchandise.menagainstbreastcancer.org/i7:Web;i7:,mabc,MaterialsandMerchandise,CaringBook