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Promise Me
I knew President Obama wasn’t calling to offer me a job because there was no call before the call. Just a call from his office. “Ambassador Brinker, the president would like to offer you the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
It had been twenty-nine years, almost to the day, since Suzy died. This was one of those moments when the enormity of everything that’s happened since then crystallized and overwhelmed me.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor in the United States, given for “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural, or other significant public or private endeavors.” I was stunned, indescribably honored, and humbly amazed when I learned what exceptional company I’d be keeping. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the Supreme Court. Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, the last living Indian Plains war chief. Geneticist Janet Davison Rowley and Dr. Pedro José Greer Jr. were being celebrated for their contributions to medicine, Stephen Hawking for science, Chita Rivera for dance, Sidney Poitier for film, and Billie Jean King for sports. Harvey Milk was being posthumously recognized for activism.
During the awards ceremony, President Obama said,
One of the last things Suzy Komen did before she died was to have her sister Nancy make her a promise. Nancy promised that she would prevent other families fighting breast cancer from suffering the way that her family had. What began as a shoebox with $200 and a list of friends has become a global Race for the Cure; a campaign that has eased the pain and saved the lives of millions of people around the world. In the months after making that promise, Nancy lay awake at night wondering if one person can really make a difference. Nancy’s life is the answer.
Stepping behind me, he lowered the medal on its wide ribbon close to my heart and worked the clasp at the nape of my neck. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying hard to keep my face from crumpling, thinking what this moment would have meant to my father, to Norman, to Suzy—grateful at the same time that Mommy, Eric, Brenda, and Connolly, and so many other people I loved were there and that a banquet hall full of friends and colleagues waited for me at the Hay-Adams across the street from the White House.
Later, as I greeted people at the reception, the daughter of a friend said, “Love the necklace, Ambassador. Did you get it from someone special?”
“Maddie! Abbie!”
“Aunt Nan!”
Suzy’s granddaughters come running in ruffles and ribbons. Scott and his wife, Marnie, laugh at how adeptly the girls invest me with their grandmother’s gift for silliness. Sitting in pint-size chairs at the American Girl store in Manhattan, we get down to the serious business of our tea party.
“When your Grammy Suzy and I were little girls,” I tell them, “our daddy built us a playhouse in the backyard with a little table so we could have lunch with our dolls.”
“And important meetings?” says Maddie.
“Yes, very important meetings.”
Abbie declares her dolly administrative assistant. I excavate my spare BlackBerry from my big pink bag and place it between dolly’s stiff but capable hands. We eat cookies and giggle and tease. All too soon it’s time to leave. I pull the girls close so Eric can take our picture, and before I let them go, I kiss each of them on top of the head.
“Abbie, I’m counting on you to be a good girl.”
She nods gravely.
“Susan Madeline Komen?”
“Yes, Aunt Nan?” she answers with tea party decorum.
“Promise me you’ll always take care of your sister.”
“I promise,” says Maddie, and she dances away.
BREAST CANCER TIMELINE
1600 B.C.E.
Earliest mention of breast cancer in Egyptian surgical papyrus.
400 B.C.E.
Greek physicians observe crablike tentacled tumors in autopsy and coin the term cancer.
1700s
Trend toward surgical medicine popularizes mastectomy as most effective treatment for breast cancer.
1880s
Mastectomies are routinely performed without anesthesia or antiseptic until 1850s. Halsted innovates radical mastectomy technique in 1880s.
1890s
Marie Curie discovers radium in 1898, laying foundation for radiation treatment for cancer.
Early 1900s
Halsted radical and super-radical mastectomies push limits of survivable surgery.
1940s
American Cancer Society Research Program launched with $1 million raised by Mary Woodard Lasker.
Chemotherapy emerges with development of Cytoxin (cyclophosphamide) and Adriamycin (doxorubicin).
1958
5-fluorouracil synthesized.
1960s
The less invasive lumpectomy gains favor.
1970s
Dr. Brian McMahon analyzes epidemiological evidence linking breast cancer to lifetime exposure to reproductive hormones.
American Cancer Society promotes mammography as best tool for early breast cancer detection.
1974
First Lady Betty Ford speaks openly about her breast cancer diagnosis.
Studies by V. Craig Jordan, Ph.D., show tamoxifen prevents cancer in rats by binding to estrogen receptors.
1977
Susan Goodman Komen is diagnosed with breast cancer.
1978
U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves tamoxifen for treatment of estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer.
1980
American Cancer Society sets early detection guidelines for breast cancer.
Susan G. Komen dies of breast cancer at age thirty-six.
1982
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation founded on July 22 in Dallas, Texas. SGK awards grants totaling $30,000 to M. D. Anderson in Houston and Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Ronald Levy successfully treats lymphoma with monoclonal antibody therapy.
1983
First SGK Race for the Cure is held in Dallas, Texas, with 800 participants.
First SGK National Awards Luncheon in Dallas.
1984
Nancy G. Brinker diagnosed with breast cancer.
1985
Studies by Dr. Bernard Fisher demonstrate lumpectomy plus radiation survival rates are equivalent to mastectomy survival rates.
1986
First SGK Race for the Cure outside of Dallas takes place in Peoria, Illinois.
First National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) is held in October.
1989
SGK grantees Dr. Harold E. Varmus and Dr. J. Michael Bishop receive Nobel Prize for oncogene behavior discoveries, a breakthrough that provides foundation for many treatments to come.
Nancy G. Brinker is first breast cancer advocate named to the President’s Cancer Panel.
First SGK local chapter (later called “affiliates”) opens in San Francisco, California.
SGK National Toll-Free Breast Care Helpline established.
1990
SGK grantee Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., isolates gene mutation on chromosome 17, setting the stage for discovery of BRCA1 and BRCA2.
SGK affiliates award first community grants for education, screening, and treatment projects.
1991
For the first time, SGK reaches $1 million in research and project grants in a single year.
1992
SGK 10th Anniversary gala includes Vice President and Mrs. Dan Quayle; U.S. senator Connie Mack and his wife, Priscilla Mack, receive the Betty Ford Award.
SGK plays key role in passage of Mammography Quality Standards Act.
V. Craig Jordan, Ph.D., D.Sc., and Bernard Fisher, M.D., receive first Brinker International Awards for Breast Cancer Research.
1993
U.S. Olympic runner Francie Larrieu-Smith is National Honorary Chair of the SGK Race for the Cure series.
1994
Studies by Dr. Brian Henderson show that exerc
ise reduces breast cancer risk in premenopausal women.
Research by David G. I. Kingston, Ph.D., leads to FDA approval of Taxol (paclitaxel).
1995
SGK Race for the Cure events in 57 U.S. cities; SGK local affiliates in 27 cities nationwide.
1996
Research by David G. I. Kingston, Ph.D., leads to FDA approval of Taxotere (docetaxel).
1997
SGK launches first website solely dedicated to breast health and breast cancer information.
Thomas Čech, Ph.D., and Robert Weinberg, Ph.D., each clone gene for telomerase.
Dr. Judah Folkman and Dr. Timothy Browder cure cancer in mice with angiostatin and endostatin.
1998
FDA approves monoclonal antibody Herceptin (trastuzumab) for breast cancer treatment.
SGK supports issue of U.S. Postal Service Breast Cancer Research stamp.
First SGK Race for the Cure outside of the United States in Costa Rica (SGK Race for the Cure series now the largest registered 5K in the world.)
1999
Studies by SGK grantee V. Craig Jordan, Ph.D., show that raloxifene reduces breast cancer risk by 76 percent in postmenopausal women.
SGK establishes the African American National Advisory Council (AANAC).
Interdisciplinary Breast Care Fellowship established at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Telomerase, an enzyme instrumental in a chromosome’s ability to divide and replicate, is discovered by SGK grantee Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D.
First international SGK affiliates are established in Germany and Greece.
2000
President Clinton signs executive order mandating Medicare coverage for clinical trials.
SGK provides $1.5 million in funding for a first-of-its-kind research study on the quality of cancer care in association with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Harvard University, and the Rand Corporation.
SGK affiliate established in Italy; first international affiliate-hosted Komen Race for the Cure is held in Rome in May.
SGK establishes the Breast Health Advisory Council (BHAC), consisting of internationally recognized breast cancer experts.
For the first time in a single season, more than 1 million people cross the finish line in the SGK Race for the Cure Series.
2001
SGK volunteers total more than 75,000. FDA approves first digital mammography devices.
Male breast cancer survivor and honorary Team New Balance member Mark Goldstein participates in his 100th Komen Race for the Cure.
Representatives of SGK participate in an official White House roundtable discussion on breast cancer with President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, physicians, scientists, advocates, survivors, and members of the Bush administration.
Worth magazine names Komen one of “America’s 100 Best Charities” out of more than 819,000 charities in the United States. (Of twenty-seven health organizations named to the “100 Best” list, SGK was one of two solely focused on women’s health.)
2002
SGK commemorates twentieth anniversary.
2003
SGK celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the SGK Race for the Cure, a series of more than one hundred races around the world, the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world.
2004
With affiliate network, corporate partners, and generous donors, SGK has raised $750 million.
2006
More than forty SGK affiliates participate in Champions for the Cure, a grassroots program designed to educate Congress, the president, and other policy makers about breast cancer. More than 100,000 Americans become SGK eChampions on ActNowEndBreastCancer.org, a virtual advocacy forum.
2007
FDA approves raloxifene, used to reduce risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
SGK marks 25th anniversary, changes name to Susan G. Komen for the Cure; the “running ribbon” logo adopted to symbolize energy and forward momentum.
SGK reaches milestone of $1 billion invested in the breast cancer movement and pledges to invest another $2 billion in the next decade.
SGK Community Challenge launches twenty-five-city campaign to rally leaders around the country to put breast cancer back at the top of the national agenda.
SGK launches first-ever Global Advocate Summit, connecting delegates from the United States and thirty other countries to discuss the global state of breast cancer.
SGK establishes its Scientific Advisory Board, a small group of top-level scientific and medical advisers led by Dr. Eric P. Winer.
SGK changes grants process to focus on four categories: Promise Grants, Investigator-Initiated Research Grants, Career Catalyst Research Grants, and Postdoctoral Fellowships.
First-ever State of Breast Cancer report discusses the breast cancer movement in lay terms.
2008
FDA approves Avastin (bevacizumab) for treatment of metastatic breast cancer.
SGK Course for the Cure first utilized to train advocates from nine pilot countries as part of SGK’s Global Initiative for Breast Cancer.
Global Promise Fund established, allowing donors to contribute specifically to Komen’s global work.
SGK celebrates $100 million awarded in research grants, the largest single-year investment in research in the organization’s twenty-six-year history.
2009
SGK grantee Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., receives Nobel Prize for discovery of telomerase.
Nancy G. Brinker receives Presidential Medal of Freedom and is made United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, overseeing Cancer Control for World Health Organization.
SGK Tissue Bank established at the Indiana University’s Simon Cancer Center.
SGK sponsors major international breast cancer conference in Egypt. Pyramids at Giza illuminated in pink for Egypt’s first SGK Race for the Cure.
2010
Having invested over $1.5 billion in research, services, and advocacy, Susan G. Komen for the Cure brings together millions of volunteers around the world, continuing the fight to end breast cancer forever.
RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES DEALING WITH BREAST CANCER
1-877 GO KOMEN (1-877-465-6636) is the resource for any and all things relating to breast health, breast cancer, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. On the web, log on to www.komen.org.
HELP WITH CLINICAL TRIALS
Susan G. Komen for the Cure has a strategic relationship with BreastCancerTrials.org, which operates as a program of QuantumLeap Healthcare Collaborative, a nonprofit corporation. This site educates patients and families on clinical trial advantages and procedures and offers a trial matching service that helps patients locate trials in which they may want to participate.
https://www.BreastCancerTrials.org.
RISK FACTORS AND PREVENTION
Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE)
Information for people at higher risk of breast cancer.
http://www.facingourrisk.org
National Cancer Institute (NCI)—Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool
Interactive breast cancer risk assessment tool.
http://bcra.nci.nih.gov/brc/q1.htm
National Cancer Institute (NCI)—Genetic Testing
Information on genetic testing.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA
National Cancer Institute (NCI)—Genetics of Breast and Ovarian Cancer
Information on the genetics of breast and ovarian cancer.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/pdq/genetics/breast-and-ovarian
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Information on clinical trials recruiting people with BRCA or other genetic mutations.
http://clinicaltrials.gov
State Cancer Legislative Database Program
Information on state legislation requiring coverage for prophylactic mastectomy.
http://www.scld-nci.net
EARLY DETECTION AND SCREENING
&nb
sp; National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program
Information on free or low-cost mammograms.
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Interactive breast cancer risk assessment tool.
http://bcra.nci.nih.gov/brc/q1.htm
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Information on free or low-cost mammograms and other sources of financial assistance.
http://www.komen.org
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
List of FDA-approved mammography facilities.
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/mammography/certified.html
DIAGNOSIS
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Clinical guidelines and information on diagnosis.
http://www.cancer.net
Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Information on inflammatory breast cancer diagnosis and care.
http://www.ibcresearch.org
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Information on different types of breast cancers as well as other types of cancer that can occur in the breast, such as Phyllodes tumor.
http://www.cancer.gov
Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation
Information on the triple negative breast cancer.
http://www.tnbcfoundation.org
TREATMENT—CLINICAL TRIAL INFORMATION
CancerConsultants.com
Free and confidential clinical trial matching and referral services.
http://www.cancerconsultants.com
CenterWatch
Information on participating in clinical trials and a searchable list of current clinical trials.
http://www.centerwatch.com
ECancerTrials.com
Free and confidential clinical trial matching and referral services.
Promise Me Page 38