CancerCare has compiled these most promising findings in its new booklet, Your Guide to the Latest Cancer Research and Treatments: Highlights from ASCO 2011, available online now. You can also order your free copies from our publications page.

• “Caring for Your Bones When You Have Breast Cancer” on Friday, October 7
• “Progress in the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer” on Thursday, October 13
• “Current Perspectives on Early Stage Breast Cancer” on Friday, October 28

Listen in live by telephone or online. These workshops will also be available as podcasts.

Like all of CancerCare’s services, our Connect Education Workshops are completely free of charge — no phone charges apply. However, pre-registration is required.

Learn more about our free, professional support services for people coping with breast cancer.

The half-day event, from 9:00 am – 12:30 pm ET at the New York Academy of Sciences in lower Manhattan, will include interactive panel discussions where leading experts in the treatment of breast cancer will answer the audience’s questions. Also featured are keynote speakers, oncologist Dr. Francis P. Arena, MD and art historian Tanya Manuali Bastianich, co-authors of Reflections of the Breast: Breast Cancer in Art through the Ages (2010, Ibooks, Inc.). Learn more and register.

Learn more about CancerCare‘s specialized, free services for women, caregivers, and family members affected by breast cancer and gynecological cancers.

Since 2006, CancerCare has been a beneficiary of the EIF Revlon Run/Walk for Women. This year, CancerCare’s Team hopes to raise $10,000 in support of our free, professional services for women diagnosed with breast and gynecological cancers.

Many of this year’s team members are CancerCare professional oncology social workers who provide free support services such as counseling and support groups for people affected by cancer. Participating in the run/walk or making a donation is a way to, in turn, support them.

Register to run/walk online today on the CancerCare Team page.  Registration is $35.  If you don’t live in New York City area, you can still support the CancerCare EIF Revlon Run/Walk team by making a donation on the page.

For more information about the walk, and how to join our team, contact team co-captain Deborah Sussman at dsussman@cancercare.org.

Michelle has just published her first book, Cancerland and The Other Side of Sick, a quick and inspiring read about the journey from “diagnosis to empowerment.” Michelle has donated copies of the book for free distribution to CancerCare clients as a way of giving back for the help she received from our specialized services for young adults.

Read Michelle’s post below, and check out her book at www.othersideofsick.org. 

Want to be a guest blogger on Copelink? Please email jbarnett@cancercare.org.

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My Little Red Dictionary

by Michelle Malavet

Living on The Other Side of Sick, my life is full of wonderment. I carry a little red dictionary most everywhere I go. I love words, especially words that rhyme, like “ignite” and “light,”  or “cancer” and “answer.”

Whenever I have a question in my life, my pocket-sized companion offers clarity and distinction. It has provided answers to many questions along my cancer survivor/thriver journey, including, “Why me? Why did I get cancer?”

My little red dictionary defines these words as:

why, adv. for what cause.

me, pron. objective case of I.

get, v., acquire; capture; achieve power over.

cancer, n. potentially unlimited growth that expands.

So whenever you ask, “Why me? Why did I get cancer?” consider that you are actually asking:

“For what cause am I? For what cause did I acquire potentially unlimited growth that expands?” 

These are very powerful questions.

Continually answering them has helped me express who I am as a cancer survivor/thriver. One can say that these questions are my journey.

Everyday, I am on a mission to inspire anyone living with cancer to fully express themselves. That is my “why.” That is my cause.

Today I woke up wondering, “What is a miracle?” What to know the definition in my little red dictionary? Please write to me, and share what you discover: mm@othersideofsick.org.

The exhibition, in support of the Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline and Support Program, showcases bras that have been transformed into works of art.  

Alison's artwork, "Embrace Your Inner Beauty." Photo credit: Jim Lennon

Allison’s artist statement reads:

Embrace Your Natural Beauty

As an oncology social worker, I meet hundreds of women who have been affected by a breast cancer diagnosis. Cancer turns their world upside-down. Women of all ages come through our office doors, ranging from their thirties to their eighties. But regardless of age, race, and all the myriad ways they differ, what they have in common is struggling to cope with the changes in their bodies. After breast lumpectomy or mastectomy, women often feel a sense of loss. The loss of a breast can feel like their femininity has been stolen. These changes can be unwelcome and unsettling, so we find solutions to work with them, and even embrace them. Together we explore how to feel whole, womanly, beautiful and confident again. We find ways to live through, and with, breast cancer.

 I was inspired by my vibrant clients and my love of nature to create this bra. It symbolizes the natural, inherent beauty in every woman.

Purchase Creative Cups from amazon.com.

Residents of New York State can reach the hotline at (800) 877-9077.

CancerCare also operates several helplines for people anywhere in the U.S. affected by breast cancer:

•  Komen for the Cure and CancerCare provide a counseling and referral helpline (1-877-GO-KOMEN)
• The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation and CancerCare provide assistance to women with triple-negative breast cancer (1-877-880-TNBC)

CancerCare offers a wealth of other free support services for women affected by breast cancer, including up to $10,000 per year in co-payment assistance through the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation.

Last year, our team of dedicated runners and walkers raised more than $50,000 for CancerCare’s free, professional support services for women diagnosed with breast and gynecological cancers. 

Register to join our team before Feb. 28 and save $5 by using the limited-time promotion code NYTEAM5. Early bird registration is $30;  regular registration is $35.

Don’t live in New York? You can still support the CancerCare EIF Revlon Run/Walk team by making a donation on the CancerCare team page.

For more information about the walk, and how to join our team, contact team co-captain Deborah Sussman at dsussman@cancercare.org.

Watch the video.

Support the All4One Alliance by purchasing the 2011 Show Us Your BRA!^tm Calendar featuring original “bra-art” designed by celebrities like India.Arie and Emme. All proceeds from sales of the calendar support women recovering from breast cancer.

Visit www.all4onealliance.org to learn more and to purchase a calendar.

CancerCare partnered with L’Oreal Paris and Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) to create a free telephone counseling and referral service for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. 

Launched one year ago, The L’Oreal Paris OCRF Hopeline has proven to be a great source of support for many women facing an ovarian cancer diagnosis. The Hopeline is staffed by professional oncology social workers and operates Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Call the L’Oréal Paris OCRF Hope Line at 877-OV-HOPE-1 (877-684-6731).

CancerCare responded to the needs of men facing prostate cancer by publishing two new fact sheets: Caring for Your Bones When You Have Prostate Cancer and Prostate Cancer: What You Should Know About Screening and Diagnosis. 

For more resources on these cancers, including additional publications, support groups and archived connect education workshops, visit the diagnoses pages on our website.

Genentech will donate $5 for each survey completed to programs and services designed specifically for metastatic breast cancer patients.  Survey results will be used to produce video and media materials that will be distributed on Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October 13).

The survey is open and available online until August 31. Please visit facesofmbc.org or text MBC to 74471 to share your story.