Thank you and R.I.P. Dr. Susan Love
Dr. Susan Love died last week at the age of 75, from leukemia. She was very instrumental in breast cancer treatment and research and also breaking many barriers for women in the medical field and in other places too.
Read her obituary here.
Her book, Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book, was very helpful to me at the time of my diagnosis of breast cancer in 2008. I had seen the book previously, and got my own copy at that time. I have the 4th edition, which came out in 2005. (The newest edition, the 7th, will be available this fall.) The slip still in the book tells me I ordered it from Amazon on July 5, 2008 and paid $14.95 for it. It did indeed become my bible for months and I so appreciated the in-depth yet understandable approach and language used in the book.
Here is a portion of a post I wrote on my previous blog, Habitual Gratitude, in January 2015 that has always stayed with me, as far as describing the mystery of cancer:
******************************************************
When I first read Dr. Susan Love's description of how cancer develops, and she used the term "neighborhoods," I was intrigued. It was an interesting way to describe what researchers are learning about cancer. Here is a brief description from the Dr. Susan Love's Research Foundation website:
Cells & Their Community
For a cancer to occur a cell has to "mutate" and its behavior has to change. We used to think that was all it took. But we now know that this is not enough by itself to create cancer. The mutated cells are in a neighborhood of other cells—fat cells, immune cells, blood, etc.—known collectively as the stroma. If these cells are all well behaved, they will have a good influence on the mutated cell, which will coexist peacefully with them, and no disease will occur. But if the neighborhood is not so "law abiding" and stimulates or at least tolerates bad behavior, there may be trouble. The combination of the mutated cells and the stimulating, or tolerant, neighborhood will create breast cancer.
Cancer remains mysterious, but it seems that progress is being made in solving some of the mystery. I am grateful for researchers and experts like Dr. Susan Love and what they are learning. Some day, maybe we will know for sure what constitutes a bad neighborhood and how to avoid it and therefore prevent cancer. In the meantime, I will do what I can to try to have healthy neighborhoods in my body.
***************************************************
I was also proud to be part of the “Army of Women” (now The Love Research Army), and I encourage others to get involved. There is much useful information and ways to get involved at Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.
You helped this breast cancer patient Dr. Love, and so, so many others. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
