There is a group of seven women with whom I meet regularly. We are working on a writing project together. Each of us is smart, funny, strong, perceptive and unbelievably supportive of the others in the group.
We share a common set of values. We are all feminists, trade unionists and committed to working for social change. We have all had breast cancer. And we all worked in the same building.
Of the seven of us, four were under the age of forty-five when we were first diagnosed. Three of us were under forty. Several of us worked in the same corner of that building, which housed, at most, one hundred people.
Two of us (two of the youngest at the time of diagnosis) have had recurrences.
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Laurie is the contributing editor for Breast Cancer. She writes at Not Just About Cancer and she is also a contributor at Mothers With Cancer. Her book, I'm Not Done Yet, is due out in Spring 2009.
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2 comments:
laurie, thanks so much for sharing this post and your story on bridges.
with so many cases of cancer not attributable to known causes or genetics, it's outrageous that cancer clusters like this, and of whatever size, are not investigated more thoroughly.
how wonderful to have a supportive community of women who lean into each other.
Thank you for sharing your story Laurie - freaky story - makes me look at the environment more closely and pay more attention to patterns in illnesses. I hope you and the other six writing women thrive from here on out.
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