Hearing The Stream By Diane Lane Chambers

Hearing the Stream Reviews
Review by Allan Burns, Editor, Colorado Springs, CO

The Sisterhood of Survivors

Hearing the Stream: A Survivor's Journey into the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer by Diane Lane Chambers

Like everyone else who receives a cancer diagnosis, Diane Chambers was initially shocked and scared. She knew only two people who had battle breast cancer: her grandmother and a judge in whose court she had worked as a sign language interpreter. Both had died. Despite daily flashbacks to her grandmother's tragic experience with disfiguring surgery, horrendous lymphedema in both arms, and burns from radiation, Diane accepted her diagnosis and began making decisions about what route to take with a competent team of doctors. She chose the only treatment that made sense for her: a mastectomy and reconstruction.

Six months later, as treatment and recovery began to fade like a bad dream, Diane began recovering her life. She had worked as a sign language interpreter since 1977 and published an acclaimed account of her experiences, Words in My Hands (Ellexa Press, 2005). but she soon learned that after cancer there was no going back to "life before cancer." There was only "life after cancer," and she quickly discovered it is not such a bad thing. She forged powerful bonds with a sisterhood of survivors--all people who had been through emotions and physical changes similar to her own. From Kim she learned the issues facing young single women with breast cancer. From Pat she learned how older women cope with diagnosis and treatment and from Sue how the mother of a baby struggled to save her own life. From Charlie she came to appreciate what men have to go through when diagnosed with a "female disease."

Above all, from the extraordinary Harriette Grober, who had been on chemotherapy for an unprecedented nine years, she learned about a determination she had never imagined and how to be thankful and happy in each moment. She also learned to take Harreitte's advocacy as a model and became involved herself in raising levels of political and social awareness about the disease. Currently, Diane is an active member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the Association of Breast Cancer Survivors and regularly participates in workshops, symposiums, and webcasts on cancer.

Hearing the Stream, the fruit of all she has experienced and learned as a cancer survivor, is an inspiring book that weaves together her own story and those of five others, thereby providing multiple perspectives on a complex disease that can be a different as the individual people dealing with it. As Dr. Tim Byers of the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center says, "Accounts such as this of the human toll of breast cancer motivate me as a researcher--and should motivate us all--to redouble our many efforts to reduce further and someday eradicate this disease."

To purchase this book click:
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Jennifer Johnson (age 27)-Survivor Story

This article was in the YSC (Young Survivor Coalition)January, 2009. It is very interesting and hopeful. I'm sure you'll want to read it. I think that it's wonderful how the cures for breast cancer has grown. When I was 23, one of my best friends found out that she had breast cancer and she was 5 months pregnant with her third baby. She was advised to abort the baby so she could live a little longer. She refused. Today she wouldn't have been given that ultimatum. The baby was born healthy. Unfortunately, Jan passed away 5 months after the baby's birth.







My husband, Matt, and I had been married four years when we decided to start our family and were lucky enough to get pregnant quickly. We were thrilled and nervous about being first-time parents, and all of the grandparents were anxiously awaiting their first grandchild.
In November of 1999, while five months pregnant, I found a lump while performing a breast self-exam (BSE). I had learned of the importance of BSEs in college through my philanthropy work with my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha. I showed my obstetrician what I had found at an appointment a week later, and, thankfully, she took it seriously. A week later a biopsy confirmed I had invasive ductal carcinoma. To hear the words you have breast cancer is life altering to say the least. I could not understand how a baby could be thriving in my body, while this cancer was trying to kill me. We visited with several doctors before making a final decision on treatment. I opted for a mastectomy since I could not have the radiation that is required with a lumpectomy during the pregnancy. I also could not have reconstruction at the time of surgery because they would not have been able to match my normal breast size.
Because of the aggressiveness of the tumor, I had to start chemotherapy during the pregnancy. At the time, there were only 40 cases in the national registry of women who had been treated for breast cancer while pregnant. All of the babies had been born healthy but, in many cases, prematurely. Thankfully, I tolerated the treatments extremely well. The day after I finished my last treatment, I unexpectedly went into labor. Our son, Parker was born five weeks early, but he was completely healthy and had a beautiful head of hair. Parker is now an active, healthy child who has many questions about his unusual beginning.
Proving that life goes on after a breast cancer diagnosis, Matt and I welcomed a daughter, Emma, in April 2003. This was a surprise pregnancy, but I could not have planned it better. It was so wonderful to experience a ''normal'' pregnancy and breast feed her from my remaining breast. My family is now complete, and, God willing, I look forward to many years with them.
Updated January 2009
In 2004, after much thought and research, I made the very personal decision to have a prophylactic mastectomy on my opposite breast to reduce my risk of a new cancer and had bilateral reconstruction with implants. Though they are not quite the same as real breasts, I appreciate remaining perky as I age!
Feeling the need to do more, three young breast friends and I decided to write a book titled Nordie's at Noon: The Personal Stories of Four Women "Too Young" for Breast Cancer to educate others that young women can and do get breast cancer and to support other young survivors. Nordie's at Noon shares our stories as four young professional women diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 30 or younger. We were all at different phases of our life, but we now shared this common bond. Once a month, we met at Café Nordstrom's for lunch. It was our special place to laugh, cry, support and educate each other—and celebrate the journey of life after a cancer diagnosis. Hearing from women that because of our book they are now being advocates for their own health or that they felt less alone and more grateful for each day, made all the hard work worth it.
Today, I volunteer for YSC through the Point of Contact Program, in hopes of making the journey a little bit easier for other young women. I also enjoy participating in YSC's advocacy efforts to get the funding and research we need to better understand this disease in young women and, ultimately, the cure before my daughter ever has to think about it. I am honored to be a part of this sisterhood of amazing women that I did not ask to be initiated into. As I think about reaching my ten-year mark this November, I am filled with gratitude for each day and can't think of a better way to celebrate this big milestone than by participating in Tour de Pink 2009.
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To see the newsletter, go to Youngsurvival.org.

Partial List of Famous Survivors of Breast Cancer

This is only a partial list. To see the complete list of survivors, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_breast_cancer_patients_according_to_survival_status

Barbara Allen, American politician, Kansas State Senator
Anastacia, American popular singer.
Christina Applegate, American actress and advocate for breast cancer research
Carol Martineau Baldwin, mother of American actors Daniel, Stephen, William, and Alec Baldwin, and foundress of the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center of the University Hospital and Medical Center at Stony Brook.
Kaye Ballard, American actress
Brigitte Bardot, former French actress and current animal rights activist
Allyce Beasley, American TV/comedic actress
Shirley Temple Black, famous Oscar-winning American former child star & former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
Nancy Brinker, American founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Diahann Carroll, African-American actress, singer.
Sonja Christopher, Survivor: Borneo contestant (first to be voted off the island.
Elizabeth Cowie, Army National Guard Staff Sergeant who has been deployed to Iraq, after refusing to stay behind despite a diagnosis of cancer in her right breast; she was treated with two surgeries and a week of intensive radiation
Sheryl Crow, American singer/musician
Ruby Dee, African-American actress
Betty DeGeneres, American author and mother of American actress and TV host Ellen DeGeneres
Elisabeth DelPadre, mother of The View TV talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck; Hasselbeck's two grandmothers and one aunt are also breast cancer survivors.
Diana Dill, British-American actress; ex-wife of American actor Kirk Douglas; mother of American actor Michael Douglas.
Elizabeth Anania Edwards, American lawyer; wife of former U.S. Senator from North Carolina John Edwards.
Melissa Etheridge, American singer.
Marianne Faithfull, British singer and actress
Deanna Favre, founded The Deanna Favre Hope Foundation and wife of American football quarterback Brett Favre.
Peggy Fleming, American Olympic champion figure skater.
Betty Ford, former U.S. First Lady.
Ernie Green, African-American former professional Cleveland Browns football player
Dorothy Hamill, American Olympic champion figure skater
Shelly Hamlin, American professional golfer
Julie Harris, legendary American stage actress
Kay Helgenberger, mother of American actress Marg Helgenberger; 26-year survivor.
Lydia Clarke Heston, former actress; widow of American actor Charlton Heston.
Marsha Hunt, African-American singer, novelist, breast cancer activist and mother of Mick Jagger's first child, Karis Jagger
Kate Jackson, American actress
Ann Jillian, American actress, entertainer
Jennifer Jones, American Oscar-winning star actress
Susan Ryan Jordan, mother of American actress Meg Ryan; Jordan is a 29-year survivor
Joan Kennedy, former wife of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts); had surgery and is continuing treatment
Janelle Kidman, mother of Australian actress
Rue McClanahan, American TV/stage actress
Kylie Minogue, Australian singer, actress
Hala Moddelmog, American president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Phyllis Newman, American TV and Broadway actress/singer;
Olivia Newton-John, UK/Australian singer/actress
Jerri Nielsen, American physician who famously treated herself for breast cancer while stuck in the South Pole after discovering a lump on her breast
Cynthia Nixon, American stage and TV actress.
Sandra Day O'Connor, first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Sister Ellen Porter, Benedictine nun and poet; author of “A Hermit Holds My Heart” (released as part of a special National Poetry Month celebration); she has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 1987.
Nancy Priddy, mother of American actress Christina Applegate.
Judy Rankin, American Hall of Fame professional golfer
Betsy Rawls, American Hall of Fame professional golfer
Nancy Reagan, former U.S. First Lady
Lynn Redgrave, Oscar nominated British-American actress
Richard Roundtree, male African-American actor.
Jean Simmons, British-born U.S. actress.
Carly Simon, American singer
Jaclyn Smith, American actress, businesswoman
Maggie Smith, Oscar-winning British actress of stage and screen.
Suzanne Somers, American actress.
Gloria Steinem, American feminist activist; stepmother of British actor Christian Bale.