breast cancer survivor

On Hearing the Stream, A Survivor's Journey into the Sisterhood

Dr. Tim Byers, Professor and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at the Colorado School of Public Health, Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control, and past Deputy Director and Interim director of the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center says,

"I am a man, so what can I know of "sisterhoods?" I am also a medical epidemiologist,doing research on breast cancer. My favorite definition of "epidemiology" is that it is the study of disease with the tears wiped away. Diane Chambers' account of her growth from a breast cancer patient, to a survivor, to a sister, and then to an advocate, uses the metaphor of a stream as a restoring force of nature. For me, this stream is a reminder of both the healing power of nature and also of the many tears that run in that stream. This memoir of one woman's physical, emotional, and social journey through breast cancer will be a healing inspiration for many. Death rates from breast cancer have been declining at a remarkable rate since 1990 in Colorado and in the United States because of improvements in early detection and treatment. Even more improvement will result we could more fully apply our current knowledge, and if we could make faster progress in research. Accounts such as this of the human toll of breast cancer motivate me as a researcher, and should motivate us all, to re-double our many efforts to further reduce, and someday eradicate, this disease."