We came to the two groups we're supporting deliberately and intimately. From the very beginning, Dad kept talking about Bud's impressive ride: “If Bud could do this at 80, we can do it.” “Bud took X many days to do Y, so…” “You’ll never believe what Bud was able to accomplish…” When Bud passed away from lymphoma in January, we decided that if we were going to do this ride, we wanted to contribute to groups that provided support and real answers for cancer patients, survivors and families, and to ride in the spirit of Bud’s indefatigable legacy. After a lot of research, we found the
Lymphoma Foundation of America. Don’t be fooled by their website – they provide incredible support to families dealing with lymphoma.
I also decided that this ride was an opportunity to let people know about
Breast Cancer Action (BCA), one of the best resources for anyone trying to navigate the experience of breast cancer.
Please, if you know someone in that situation, send her to BCA. They will truly be your advocates. I know, because I found them when I needed exactly that support.
In 2006, my mom discovered she had stage 1 breast cancer. We’re a rather itinerant family, so it should come as no surprise that she was living in India with her husband, John, studying meditation for a year. When she discovered the cancer, she was two months short of coming home.
With only travel insurance and having been self-employed, she was not eligible for insurance to cover the costs of treatment in the US. Our family faced the tough decision of how to best treat the cancer and how to support her in India once John came back to work. I remember thinking that I should have seen this coming. After all, both my grandmothers and one aunt (my mom’s sister) have had - and survived - breast cancer. Still, as I am sure many people feel when women in their lives are diagnosed, I could not believe this was all happening to our family, that my mom would be undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, that she would lose her hair and her strength for months to come, and that we would spend years – as we have – always a little afraid that the cancer would return.
Around that time, I learned about Breast Cancer Action (BCA). Barbara Brenner, the group’s tenacious executive director, was speaking at a conference I attended for work. I started crying as she spoke, so grateful to hear her articulate the isolation and fear of this too-common diagnosis and the social injustices that kept many women from receiving the treatment – and the answers – they deserve.
In the past two years, I’ve found that BCA is the most comprehensive resource for just about any question. They provide cancer patients and survivors with the most up-to-date medical information. Their fact sheets distill “The Facts and Nothing But the Facts,” and they not only highlight, but also dig into statistics like:
- Breast cancer rates have jumped from 1 in 22 in 1940 to 1 in 8 in 2007 in the US
- Breast cancer kills 44,000 American women annually
- More women have died from breast cancer in the past two decades than all Americans who died in World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War — combined.
Plus, BCA is highly responsive and puts full stock in answering phone calls and emails. After I met Barbara, I turned to BCA for information. They sent me a huge packet of information about how to support cancer patients, current facts and figures, and resources for our family. Later, my mom contacted BCA as well to get an honest take on Tamoxfen. (My mom is now back in California and shows no sign of cancer. She is considering writing a performance piece to describe her experiences and to benefit BCA.)
Through the whole process, I felt blessed to have found BCA. I sincerely hope that this ride will alert more women that such a group is there for them and their families.
