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August 1, 2009
GENESIS: THE FIRST CHAPTERS OF BREAST HEALTH & HEALING
 R. Crumb's illustrated comic book depicting the story of Genesis begins with a frightful, deeply bearded God hovering over the void. The caption reads:
"When God began to create heaven and earth, the earth was then without form . . ."
Fourteen months ago, as I approached the end of the first International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) at McGill University, I, too, was hovering over a void - my future. The caption might have read, "Nice degree. Now, what are you going to do with it?"
Neurotransmitters were dispatched to all corners of my brain in an effort to answer this question, but months went by without so much as a clue. Finally, the “let there be light” moment came, as all revelations invariably do, in a flash: I would work to discover the causes of breast cancer.
My first thought was to approach the orthodox breast cancer foundation community, (Big Pink), those already fully engaged in trying to find a “cure” for the disease, to suggest that they expand their horizons, with my help of course, to begin to look more earnestly for the causesof breast cancer. So I dressed smartly, gathered my credentials and set out on four separate trips to persuade the standard-bearers of the value of this fresh approach, one ultimately aimed at preventing the disease altogether. I was puzzled to find that though I was warmly received, I was also thoroughly ignored. Was it I, or the message?
Undaunted, I decided to create my own foundation. Why not? As Margaret Mead said,
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
Yes, I would create a new breast cancer foundation, one devoted to finding the causes of breast cancer and using that knowledge to prevent the disease. To quote again from Genesis,
"The waters under the heavens did not gather in one place nor did dry land appear."
Nevertheless, in April 2008 I met with my attorney and asked for his help with my plan to create a foundation. With little fuss or bother, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Breast Health & Healing Foundation, was born. And that was the evening and the morning of the First Day.
By June 2008, Barack Hussein Obama, in gleaming armor, was in a full-tilt pursuit of the presidential nomination for the Democratic Party. I was in need of a website, of course, so I checked out his for inspiration and guidance. After all, I reasoned, he must have the smartest guys in the room working in his cyberspace. I was right. His website was as slick and cool as greased ice. I called my web designer, poor lad, and told him that I wanted a website just like Obama's, to which he replied, "That will cost you a quarter of a million dollars." To which I replied, "What can you do for seven grand?"
Turns out you can do a lot with seven grand if you spend it wisely. With an eye to HGTV, the channel that specializes in creating a mansion out of matchbox, we created a website that resonated "Obama," (including using his font, Gotham - $400), but managed to stay within our own starving budget. The results were impressive and well received.
At the same time, we crafted the logo for the foundation, a blue and green earth with a halo of women around it, and settled on our own trademark pink ribbon. Thus was spent the evening and the morning of the Second Day.
Days Three and Four were devoted to paving a road through the cloud, what is commonly referred to as social networking, and designing a brochure for the foundation. We laid down macadam on Face Book and Twitter and Word Press. And with the help of a grateful and generous husband of one of my patients, we drafted our first brochure.
Day Five was all about feeding the social networking sites with relevant, useful, readable, and informed commentary about breast cancer research. I tried to find news that was related to the causes and prevention of breast cancer, and I did my best to make my posts comprehensible to the bewildered and otherwise scientifically challenged.
Day Six began with the next BIG question: now that the structure of the foundation, and its portals, were completed, how, exactly, did I intend to fulfill its mission? The answer to the BIG question came in increments, and with a lot of help from my friends, old and new.
First, I put the viral cause of breast cancer, an issue that had grabbed me by the intellectual lapels three years ago and had refused to let me go, into my sight: I was determined to take out this prey. I met with Dr. Beatriz Pogo, the scientist who has been working on the mouse/human mammary tumor virus for the better part of half a century. She kindly agreed to join our Scientific Advisory Board and I, in turn, promised to do everything I could to get her the funds she needs to continue her work. Then I recruited other like-minded scientists to the Scientific Advisory Board. Everyone I approached generously accepted the invitation to join the cause, a most satisfying beginning when so much of the void still loomed in a dark and stormy way.
To do my part to help fulfill the mission of the foundation, I started writing as if I was always meant to do so, producing three books in fifteen months: The Mind Is A Force That Matters, The Pink Virus, of Mice and Women and Breast Cancer, and A Woman’s Companion, Recipes for Breast Health and Healing. In my spare time, when I might have been, say, sleeping, I created two educational You Tube videos, three PowerPoint presentations and conducted countless meetings with potential stakeholders in the breast cancer prevention community. I consulted with the Cary Medical Center in Caribou Maine to help them create a Breast Service for Aroostook County and to solicit their support for studying the viral cause of breast cancer in their rural community. They’re on board.
Although I had covered a fair distance, I still had to come up with an idea that would generate some income for the foundation, for it needed to grow. Fund-raising? Good grief! I hardly knew where to throw myself. Certainly, the world did not need another race or walk or dance. Certainly, the world did not need more "awareness" or another swarm of pink ribbons. What was I to do?
Rather than strain my brain, I decided to wait for the next bolt of inspirational lightening to strike. Sure enough, somewhere from the deep an idea arose, like Venus on a shell, and the Theresa Quilt was born. The Theresa Quilt is an online virtual quilt named after my mother, Theresa, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1974. It is patterned after the AIDS quilt of years gone by, but refreshed for cyberspace where it can grow permanently and infinitely for all to see and enjoy. It was launched on Mother’s Day and reported that day in a lovely story carried in the New Jersey Star Ledger. (Theresa herself was pleased. And we know how important that is.) The evening and the morning of the Sixth Day, done.
The Seventh Day, the one where you rest for a short while, has finally arrived. I write from the shore, in the sun, and having fun. It is lovely for now, but there is still so much to do! And I can’t wait to get started.
Stay tuned, for like a plane accelerating down the runway, I believe we are getting close to air speed, the velocity at which you can fly. Although the shades have been drawn on the tweets and blogs during this summer month as I revised the illustrations for two of my books, it is only a brief lull in the creation story of Breast Health & Healing. July has been a time for looking at pictures, feeling the waves and listening for whispers on breezes. August is straight ahead, and September will be here before you know it, and I expect to have fun with our first harvest, come what may.
Regards,
Kathleen T. Ruddy, MD
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