By Kathy LaTour

Many books arrive at CURE throughout the year.
Here are a few we think you may want to know about.

The Breast Cancer Book of Strength & Courage: Inspiring Stories to See You Through Your Journey
[Prima Publishing, 2002]
By Judie Fertig Panneton & Ernie Bodai, MD [championed the creation of the breast cancer stamp]

There are gems that get by us when they are first released, and this is one of those books. Published in 2002, The Breast Cancer Book of Strength & Courage offers 46 short essays from breast cancer survivors. Each has its own special flavor, from the newscaster who went on air bald to the survivor who chased her two dogs around the yard as they tried to bury her prosthesis. Then there is the mother in her 50s who jumped the waves nude and the couple who responded to the information that they could not have children by adopting two girls from Russia.

Having children, having grandchildren, coping with depression, drumming and praying. They are all topics found in these essays. And just as the topics vary so do the diagnoses, from early to metastatic, all the while sharing their feelings and coping strategies with readers.

Personally, I found this book to be filled with personal messages because it seemed as if each woman had a moment or a situation that gave her strength and courage. There is the gardener whose roses comfort her. On a trip to the nursery, the always-quiet salesman commented that she stood tall and beautiful in her baldness.

The stamp’s illustrator, though not herself a breast cancer survivor, reached into her creativity to give us an image of power and beauty. Little gifts, little moments from the angels to remind us what cancer cannot do:

Cancer is so limited…
It cannot cripple love, it cannot
Shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith, it cannot
Destroy peace.
It cannot kill friendship, it cannot suppress memories,
It cannot silence courage, it
cannot invade the soul,
It cannot steal eternal life,
It cannot conquer the spirit.
—Author unknown

Spiritual Fitness
[Llewellyn Publications, 2004]
By Nancy Mramor, PhD

Nancy Mramor, PhD, a psychologist for more than 25 years, created the Spiritual Fitness program to help her clients and those in her workshops create spirituality in their lives as a way to heal. In 1999, after 20 years of practicing intentional spirituality, Dr. Mramor learned she had leukemia and was required to put into practice her faith system and beliefs, combining the best of Western medicine with spiritual practices, asking her spirit to take over when her body was “too sick, too tired” to make decisions.

In her book, Dr. Mramor helps readers learn to be spiritual with exercises and suggestions to move the reader into greater awareness of self, faith and body.
This is a wonderful book from someone who has been there.

Breast Cancer: Daughters Tell Their Stories
[The Haworth Press, 2005]
By Julianne S. Oktay, PhD

As a breast cancer survivor whose daughter was only a year old when she was diagnosed, there was little in the journey that did not involve my daughter. Early on, it was whether I would live, and if I didn’t, how she would cope. As she became aware of the breast cancer history in our family, our conversations were around the issue and what happened. Then when news of genetic susceptibility gained attention, it presented a new aspect to our talks. Would she have to deal with it?

Breast Cancer: Daughters Tell Their Stories drew me in immediately, as Dr. Oktay explained the process for interviewing young women whose mothers had died and their reactions. It’s the kind of book I would want if I were facing a mortality issue—understanding the issues my daughter would face. While the book is clearly the result of a well-designed study, it is very readable.

The book addresses the daughters’ experiences based on how old they were when their mothers died. It also has chapters on women whose mothers survived breast cancer and looks at genetic risk. Particularly interesting are the conclusions at the end of the book, where Dr. Oktay pulls all the information together and looks at how mothers and daughters change when facing breast cancer.