Taking Charge of Breast Cancer

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments I have discussed my experiences with breast cancer and the reasons I came to write this book in the introduction, so I will not repeat them here. I will only add that writing about breast cancer is one of the most rewarding and difficult things I have done. As I told their stories, I could remember every woman I wrote about, and, indeed, as I write this I find myself wondering which women are no longer alive. The women I interviewed were in various stages of the disease, and I fear that not all of them will have survived to read what I said about them. Even so, for the most part, I believe this is an upbeat, not a sad, book. For this, I must share the credit with the ninety-six women who agreed to be interviewed about their experiences. In their responses to their breast cancer diagnosis, these women really underscore the concept of agency in that they all did take charge of their breast cancer and, in doing so, they did not always follow the same path. In the pages that follow some of their stories are described in more detail than others, but every woman I talked to enlightened my research. xi I must also thank those individuals who helped my research by telling me about the many support services available to women once they are diagnosed. These generous people include Jean Sachs, executive director of Living Beyond Breast Cancer, who was kind enough to spend time with me explaining her organization. She also allowed me to put a flyer about my research in the package of materials handed out to attendees at an LBBC conference. This resulted in a number of interviews, particularly with women I call biomedical experts. Elaine Grobman, executive director of the Breast Health Institute, which was the local Philadelphia affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, not only agreed to an interview but invited me to a working meeting of the Race for the Cure, where I was able to recruit several activists to interview. I would also like to thank Patricia Wellenbach, former executive director of the Wellness Community, and Barbara De Luca, former executive director of the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation, for helpful information about their programs. Other women who freely gave me their valuable time to explain the variety of services available to breast cancer patients include Judy Wallace, education director of the National Breast Cancer Coalition; Bonnie Hay of the Women’s Health and Environment Network; Nurit Shein, executive director of Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives (now renamed the Mazzoni Center); Helen Grotsky and Catherine Belt, a social worker and oncology nurse, respectively, at the Joan Karnell Cancer Center of Pennsylvania Hospital; Barbara Shapiro of Harriet’s Inner Wear; Maria Scarduzio of Cuz’n Curl Company Salon and Spa; and Jane Antonowski, leader of a psychotherapeutic support group for breast cancer patients. I also received help and advice from a number of colleagues. My friends in the Department of Sociology at Temple University listened to me expound on my topic and on the difficulties of running a department while writing a book. They even stayed away when I needed them to. Gretchen Condran and Gene Ericksen were helpful in finding and interpreting data on national trends in breast cancer and on demographic differences in breast cancer morbidity and mortality. Kevin Delaney and Sherri Grasmuck discussed issues of qualitative interviewing with me, and Kevin also advised me about where to publish. Outside the departxii A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s ment, Sue Wells, Richard Immerman, and Bill Overton commiserated with me on the departmental chair problem and encouraged me to keep going. Rebecca Alpert had a number of conversations with me about my topic both before and after she was diagnosed. She also helped me locate lesbians who had had breast cancer. Denise O’Brien and Dolores Andy discussed their own experiences of breast cancer with me and helped me develop my questionnaire. Several anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments, and my book is better for following much of their advice. I would like to thank the Department of Sociology for providing undergraduate and graduate student research assistants to transcribe and help code my data and to perform the many other tasks I assigned to them. These included Katy Seufert, Annalisa Synnestvedt, Amy Steinbugler , Rae Garrison...