Who is susan komen

Executive Director: Robin Walker Email: rwalker komen. Learn more about Susan G. Skip to content. Orange County Our mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs of our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer. Need Help? Care 11, People in California seek help and information from Susan G.

Community 58 Counties in California are served by Susan G. Action 6, People in California advocate for breast cancer rights. Get Involved Help us reach our vision of a world without breast cancer by getting involved in our local community. See you in ! Donate Today. Learn More and Register Now. Create a Fundraiser. Get Involved as an Advocate Being an advocate for breast cancer awareness and research funding is one of the best ways you can make a difference.

Learn more about becoming an advocate. There is rarely any pain associated with breast cancer in its early stages. So when you are told you've got a life-threatening disease, and the treatment sounds more heinous than the thought of a little lump in the breast, it is understandable that a woman uneducated about cancer might opt for no treatment at all. Such was the case with Suzy. My sister was terrified, naturally, but adamant against having a mastectomy.

Our family doctor called in a surgeon to review Suzy's case. It is important, if you are to learn from our mistakes, that I tell you a little bit about this surgeon.

He was very handsome, very suave and seemed very self-confident. According to Suzy, this surgeon told Suzy he could cure her. Even the most respected cancer experts in the country which he was certainly not do not talk about recovery in terms of surviving cancer or remission. They refrain from using the word "cure" because cancer can recur. But that, of course, is exactly what Suzy wanted to hear, and who could blame her? Like many women, and for that matter men, too, Suzy was of the frame of mind that the doctor was always right.

This surgeon suggested performing a subcutaneous mastectomy, a procedure in which the outside of the breast is left intact, but an incision is made and the breast tissue is removed.

He would then do an implant ten days later. Suzy would be left with a small scar but no more cancer. She felt it was her best option. After Suzy's surgery, my parents, Stan and I were all at the hospital anxiously awaiting the results. The surgeon walked confidently in the room and said, "You can relax, we got it all. I believe she's cured. If it is used at all, it is more likely to be spoken after a five-year period has passed without a recurrence.

For the next five months or so, Suzy felt pretty good. She was convinced she was cured. When I suggested she secure a second opinion just to be sure, she became very sensitive. After all, her doctor had told her she was fine. But before six months had gone by, our worst nightmare became a reality. Suzy found another lump. This time it was under her arm. Despite everyone's optimism, her cancer had spread.

Suzy went next to the Mayo Clinic, where we learned that her cancer had metastasized spread to her lung and under her arm.

There was a tumor the size of a quarter in the upper part of her right lung and suspicious shadows elsewhere. Their recommendation was 30 days of radiation and then to "watch it. Terror, rage, sadness and above all, a feeling of complete and utter helplessness invaded me.

Why was this happening to Suzy, of all people? What had she ever done to deserve to be so sick and so frightened? Although no one said anything aloud, we all knew my sister was now fighting for her life. And it all happened so quickly. She tried to keep up a brave front and would often talk of plans for the future.

A major turning point in Suzy's struggle for survival came from a surprising source: Mrs. Betty Ford. The year was , and while serving as First Lady, Mrs. Ford had finished a successful bout with breast cancer.

The whole country was shocked and saddened with the news of her breast cancer and mastectomy. Her bravery touched a place inside of Suzy that none of us could possibly understand because we hadn't gone through it ourselves.

In Betty Ford, my sister found new strength. Ford can admit she has breast cancer and tell the whole world she intends to fight it, well then so can I.

The doctors at Mayo suggested Suzy have radiation therapy, which is a treatment using high-energy rays to damage burn cancer cells and stop them from growing. She did have the radiation, but it was not successful in slowing her disease. The cancer was out of control, and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. But we had to try. Suzy decided to seek treatment at the M.

Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. When she arrived, she was a Stage IV cancer patient. This means that the disease had spread to other organs in her body and was still growing. It was a very critical situation. But, for the first time, Suzy was part of a team: Her new doctor and his associates made Suzy a partner in every decision. They were completely and totally honest with her and all of us about her condition.

Suzy was not only allowed to ask questions, she was encouraged to do so. Suzy's doctor's approach to the disease was an aggressive one. Thus began the saga of intense chemotherapy.

The problem with chemotherapy is that it doesn't know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys, so a lot of important healthy cells are killed in the process, including the cells of the stomach lining and hair roots. She left a husband, two children, and a community that loved her. In turn, Brinker would like to pass on to others some of the lessons she has learned about dyslexia. She advises children who are dyslexic to tell their parents early, so they get the help they need.

If you get it diagnosed and you understand what it is, life will be much more pleasant. You have to find the place you fit, and that means doing what you love. Everyone has something they do that they love.

Tom Cavanaugh was 71 before he saw his true reflection—not in a mirror—but in a movie. There he was, at 17, in a scene showing a high school student completely lost looking for his hallway locker, and then spinning the combination lock repeatedly, without result.

Emanuel learned at an early age to be aggressive and stand up for himself. Raised in a family where education was a high priority, he had to read the newspaper every day to keep up with current events and defend his political opinions each night at the family dinner table. This posed no problem for his brother Rahm, former Obama chief of staff and now Chicago mayor, and Ezekiel, a breast oncologist and head of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health.