Y-ME? Y-NOW?

I got the news, skipped “Why ME” and moved right into “Now What?” mode. I bought Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book . I sat on my bathroom floor with the book after my 6- and 8-year olds went to bed. My husband tossed and turned in bed because he was freaked out, too, but didn’t want me to know it. And I stayed up all night reading the book cover to cover because I needed to know what to do before my doctor’s appointment that next day, and I didn’t know anyone who had breast cancer who wasn’t someone’s grandmother. I had no one to talk to.

Why ME?
Breast cancer didn’t take my life, but it has consumed it. I did a lot to make a difference. When I came to Y-ME, I thought I’d seen it all in the breast cancer community. Over the past 16 years, I’d met survivors whose stories still make me cry when I can’t fall asleep at night. I sat with volunteers who stuffed envelopes until their fingers were raw and their kids were asleep on the floor at their feet. I pushed a dear friend’s wheelchair down the streets of Capitol Hill and held her oxygen tank because Lynne needed to attend one more Lobby Day to tell her representative how important our cause should be. I participated in hundreds of pink-ribbon walks, dinners, house parties and rallies and raised millions and millions of dollars.

But I hadn’t seen it all. I didn’t know what I thought I knew. I hadn’t met the People Behind the Pink that you’ll meet on this website and I didn’t yet recognize that Y-ME’s original mission – that no one should go through breast cancer alone – remains the MOST IMPORTANT AND INSPIRING MISSION in the breast cancer community right now. There’s no one else out there like us. Patients need us now more than ever. And our network of 141 trained breast cancer survivors are on the other end of the phone for you 24/7/365. Talking to us sure beats sitting in the dark on the bathroom floor, focused on the really scary parts of a breast cancer diagnosis without having a “peer” to talk to who’s been there.

Why NOW?
My role as ‘survivor in chief’ of this remarkable organization is the most inspiring and rewarding thing I’ve done since I’ve worked in this breast cancer community. Read the stories. Meet the people behind the pink, and you’ll be inspired, too, whether you’re newly diagnosed, supporting someone with breast cancer, or looking for a good cause. They had me at “hello.” I think they’ll help and inspire you, too.