I’ve been blogging for 25 days, and I could probably do so for many more. You’ll just have to wait for the book! But to mark our last day, I wanted to give a glimpse of what some of those other stories would look like:
1. When we started The Rose breast cancer incidence rate and lifetime risk of being diagnosed was one in 13, now it is one in 8.
2. “You knew it was a snake when you picked it up.” One of Dixie’s most famous lines and unfortunately it did apply to those (very few) folks who wanted to use The Rose for their own purposes. When you are working to stay ‘on mission’ there will always be someone trying to pull you off of it.
3. “Dorothy I need a Cow Boop!” A cow what? Yes that was one of the tasks given to me by one of our former docs. Resourceful we are, especially when you have Cousin Brad who found a Cow Boop!
4. “It’s always a matter of money.” From keeping the doors open to treatment options for uninsured women, it comes down to money and funds. In fact, there was a time when the saying was, “a woman’s prognosis depends on how good her insurance is and how much money she has in the bank.” Thank goodness, The Rose has created an option for the uninsured.
5. When Rose Kushner found a lump in her breast, back in 1979, she was told by her surgeon that is was probably ‘nothing’ and if by chance it was, then he’d tell her husband Harvey and go ahead and do her mastectomy. Rose’s response was too graphic for our blog. It took her visiting 16 surgeons before she found one who would wake her up and let her make the decision. Hence the birth -- due to Rose’s advocacy -- of legislation and protocols that require the “two stage procedure” and “informed consent.”
6. Nothing is EVER off the record. In those early days we counted on local newspaper reporter, Clara Clay to tell the story of breast cancer and early detection. She would spend time with Dixie, meticulously recording facts and figures, listening to Dixie recite the steps of breast self exam and nuances of mammograms. One day Clara turned off the recorder and posited a simple question. “You are so passionate about this Dr. Dixie. What made you want to be a doctor?” she asked. Dixie thinking every thing was “off the record” (obviously I wasn’t present during this interview) started talking and Clara spent another hour with her, never taking a note. The next day, the headlines of the Pasadena Citizen read “Local Surgeon Overcomes Rough Beginnings as a High School Drop-Out.”
7. Gynecologist, Dr. White covered the $25 for Dixie to take the Med Cat exam after doing her pelvic exam and learning Dixie had a 3.9 GPA and was hoping to become a Lab Tech.
8. “None of us knows how long we have on this earth. The only thing we do have is right now, right here and each other. Breast cancer patients have taught me that I need to appreciate every sunrise and every sunset.” Another Dixie-ism. "Hugs are good for the immune system.” It's true! There is clinical proof that touching is healing.
9. Women are smart. They know what they need to do but taking care of everyone else gets in the way more often than not.
10. Educating women is good. Empowering women starts by making sure there is access to care.
11. Rose Employees are always a huge part of the success of every fundraising event and especially the Shrimp Boil. The create baskets for the Raffle, huge baskets filled with all kinds of great gifts, the bake cookies and cakes for the dessert table and the come out in mass to volunteer throughout the day. They are the best!!
12. National studies confirm that being part of a Support Group extends life.
13. Soft spoken and a true southern lady, Diana was our second paid support staff. She survived stage 4 cancer because she heard Dixie on the radio saying “if anyone tells you that lump is a cyst—just by feeling it—you need another doctor.” Diane made every patient feel like there was nothing more important in the world than for her to visit with them and tend to their immediate needs at that very moment.
14. One of the saddest cases was the 63 year old, whose husband had divorced her taking with him the insurance. It was all she could do to find any kind of work at that age and she was banking on staying healthy until she was 65. The lump in her breast put a crimp in that idea. Did we ultimately help her get coverage through Medicaid/Medicare? Yes. It took over 13 months of processing paperwork.
15. In Texas, 59% of the businesses are small businesses which usually do not offer group health insurance. In 79% of the families we serve, at least one person is working, sometimes at two or more jobs. “Working poor” is a true statement.
16. In the early years, volunteers made fabric capes (as opposed to disposable gowns) for our patients to wear. We’d carry the ‘used ones’ home each night to wash, until someone donated a washer dryer set to each center. We wanted each patient to feel comfortable. We also hated that the mammogram plate was always cold so we bought a big “kitty Kat” warmer to place on the ‘buckee’ (plate) between patients. It sounded like a good idea to us but didn’t work.
17. Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, showered us with more than one story of ‘real class.”
18. In the first decade, everyone who became an employee had already volunteered in some large or small fashion.
19. Then there the time we were at another breast cancer conference when Dixie, during a reception, started debating with this guy who spoke -- with such a pleasant Swedish accent-- about the superiority of zero-mammography over film screen. He let her talk ‘on and on.’ The next day, as she sat on the front row, she came face-to-face with her ‘debate partner” --internationally famous mammographer, Lazlo Tabar, M.D. who called on the “surgeon” for her opinion throughout the rest of the conference.
20. Women under the age of 40 account for 20% of all the breast cancers we diagnose each year.
21. “We only have one limitation: the one we put on ourselves.” This is the motto of a high school drop out who couldn’t even get a job at the Five and Dime and became a ‘world famous’ surgeon--Dixie.
22. Writing grant proposals is an art in itself. Getting them done by the deadline is a constant challenge when your staff is small and doing many tasks. I’ll never forget the day, long ago, when we finally finished writing our largest request for $100,000. All was ready to go except the 20 copies of the 40-page document. I walked into the office to find the parts of the copy machine strewn about on the floor, a repairman grumbling with his head in the inner workings, hundreds of papers lined up on a table and my grant writer in tears. Somehow the guy resurrected that old machine (another donated item) and got it to print the final copy. “Oh, Dorothy, don’t worry so,” my grant writer said. “It will be fine. I’ll send it Federal Express. I would have gotten in the car and driven it to San Antonio if I had to.”
“It’s supposed to be going to Austin, Verlyn!” I groaned.
(Just another day in the life of the ol’ Bailey’s Savings and Loan.)
23. Running the Rose was a bit like being Colonel Potter in the MASH series. Breast cancer is a ‘war’ that no one volunteers to be in; finding help for the uninsured another war that shouldn’t be. From iconic physicians to a whole bunch of Radars, it takes a lot of skill from a lot of different folks to move a woman from diagnosis to treatment and recovery. We do it every day, one woman at a time.
24. Remembering the day we were trying to get an uninsured woman into treatment and her phone was cut off because she hadn’t paid her bill. Our patient navigator called (then) SW Bell and ‘reasoned’ with the supervisor (after going through several folks) and finally got it turned back on…just in time.
25. We celebrate a lot, birthdays, service awards, finding another service for our women. When donations come in, we walk the halls ringing the bell (yes it is an actual bell) and sharing the good news with patients, physicians, volunteers and employees.
BONUS: We maintain a prayer list and more than one ‘outside’ person has called me to ask for a name to be put on it.
Our next Twenty Five Years are ahead. Who knows what lies ahead? A cure for breast cancer? True health plans for everyone? Perhaps The Rose nationwide?
We are so thankful to the many folks who have been on this journey with us and who will be with us in the years to come.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
This memory is one of 25 short stories written by Dorothy Gibbons, the Co-founder and CEO of The Rose, a nonprofit breast cancer organization. She and Dr. Dixie Melillo received the 501C3 documents for The Rose in 1986. A memory will be shared daily, culminating with number 25 on the day The Rose celebrates its 25th anniversary November 10.
© 2011 Dorothy Gibbons. All rights reserved.
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