A week or so ago I had a fairly amazing visit with my cousin, Suzanne, a two-time breast cancer survivor, and her BFF Stacey, who accompanied Suzanne to NYC for a pretty cool breast-cancer awareness project we contributed to, for Estee Lauder. We should all be so lucky to have such friends - I was seriously blown away by the measure of her devotion. It was quick - they arrived Wednesday and flew back to Detroit Thursday night to do the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk that weekend - starting 5 a.m. the next day.
Suzanne was the #1 fundraiser in all of Michigan ($19,792 - holla!) so I donated to Stacey, who raised a not-too-shabby $3,000. The unexpectedly great bonus for me, though, as an Internet nerd, was seeing how impressive (and smart) the Susan G. Komen site is - each member of each team has a donation page, with a statement about why they’re walking. So I was not only able to support any member of Suzanne’s team (“Suz Cruise”), but see how each person was connected to my cousin and why they had chosen to undertake this huge challenge (3 days x 20 miles per day = 60 miles = blisters). This is from Stacey’s page:
As many of you know, my best friend Suzanne Bartholomew was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2006. After a double mastectomy, hysterectomy, and months of chemotherapy we thought that the cancer was gone forever. This was not the case. In August 2009, Suzanne’s cancer was back. And the news was devastating and terrifying. Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. My world literally seemed to stop at the thought of losing my cherished friend. But then we found bs-201, also known as Parp, an investigative drug for people with tumors just like Suz has. And after 6 months I am thrilled and amazed to report that Suzanne’s body is virtually cancer free!! A true miracle!!! I am humbled and amazed at the power of this experimental drug. And I am committed to raising money for breast cancer research to find and develop more of these wonder drugs! So that our mothers, sisters, friends, wives, and daughters do not have to ever be diagnosed with this awful disease. But if they are, that they have hope, and promising treatment options.
This is from her husband Freddy:
I want this disease gone. As a husband, son, father of 4 daughters, and woman’s physician, I am growing weary of this predator…please encourage all the women you know to have their recommended screening. Thank you.
Suzanne and I are related through my dad and her mom, who are first cousins. Their parents - my grandmother, her grandfather - were twins. Down the genetic pipeline, she got the BRCA 1 breast cancer gene and I didn’t. That’ll motivate a girl to donate. At least.
That’s me, Suz (with the short hair, courtesy of Salon Chemo), Stacey above and Katie Rosman on the left, who knows Suz and Stacey from Detroit and came to meet us for lunch. If you know Katie, you’ll know about her other Suzy - her mom and the subject of her book, If You Knew Suzy, whom she lost to lung cancer. Cancer isn’t picky. Consider a donation today.
