Daily Press Featured Article - Sunday, September 16, 2007

Mary Beth Gibson, left, and Rene Bowditch have started a support group called Beyond Boobs! to help young women diagnosed with breast cancer. "We want to provide a very healing atmosphere, a place where people can be honest and laugh together even when they're bald and going through chemotherapy," said Bowditch. (Dave Bowman, Daily Press / September 11, 2007)

By ALISON JOHNSON special to the daily press
September 16, 2007


The women who gather one Sunday a month for tea in Rene Bowditch's living room have more in common than a breast cancer diagnosis.

Most also had doctors who told them not to worry about breast cancer — that they were "too young" to get the disease. One, 42-year-old Mary Beth Gibson of Toano, had a doctor who brushed off her questions about getting an advanced breast scan and genetic testing even though both her grandmother and mother were diagnosed at age 40.

"My diagnosis was terrible news, but it was not a shock," said Gibson, who found a cancerous lump in her breast last year and has undergone a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. "Looking back, I wish I had pushed so much harder for my health."

Now she and Bowditch, a 58-year-old cancer survivor, want to help other women do just that. They are co-founders of Beyond Boobs! (more on that name later) — a new nonprofit working to raise awareness that breast cancer can strike women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, often in an aggressive form.

Beyond Boobs! also connects younger cancer patients so they can help each other with issues that tend to affect them more than older women, including dating after surgery, fertility and employment questions, and early menopause triggered by chemotherapy drugs.

And the group's 18 members — the youngest just 28 years old — are putting the finishing touches on a 2008 calendar packed with educational tips, inspirational thoughts and G-rated portraits of cancer survivors.

"We want to provide a very healing atmosphere, a place where people can be honest and laugh together even when they're bald and going through chemotherapy," said Bowditch, a professor at the College of William and Mary's law school.

"At the same time, we want to get these issues out in the open so people aren't afraid of talking about them. Part of the reason women don't do self-exams and get mammograms is because they're scared. It's education and early detection that saves lives."

Breast cancer is relatively rare in women younger than 40, making up about 5 percent of all cases, according to the American Cancer Society. But that still means more than 11,000 younger women are diagnosed each year. The illness also is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women ages 15 to 54.

Bowditch met Gibson, a business owner and mother of three young boys, last year at a local retreat for breast cancer survivors. Just three of the 20-some women in attendance were in their 40s or younger.

"It can be a very isolating feeling," Gibson said. "You think, 'Why me?' I don't feel sorry for myself anymore, but sometimes I look at my boys and wonder if I'll get to see them grow up."

A group that focuses on younger women is particularly important now that advanced diagnostic equipment can catch cancer earlier, said Yvonne Pike, Breast Cancer Patient Navigator for Riverside Health System. Pike, who helps guide patients through the treatment process, has referred several women to Beyond Boobs! and gotten positive feedback.

"The support of other women going through the same things is so important, even if it's something as simple as what to wear to work during or after treatment," Pike said. "It's a huge boost to their image to see that they're not alone."

The name Beyond Boobs! is an attention grabber, but it also promotes the group's emphasis on humor and philosophy that no woman should be defined by a disease or her breasts alone.

The myth that cancer strikes only older women is just one the group would like to strike down. Another is that tumors never cause pain; Bowditch had pain in her breast for more than three years before her diagnosis at age 52. Still another is that mammograms erase the need for monthly self-breast exams. Gibson found her tumor a month after a seemingly normal mammogram, by which time the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.

Those and other insights are part of the calendar project, titled "A Calendar to Live By." Each month features a portrait of a young cancer survivor shot by local photographer Monica Sigmon, along with an action word important to healing — "believe," "play," "laugh" and "forgive" among them.

The group has landed sponsorships from individuals and businesses — ranging from a $100 "A Cup" level to a $2,500 "DD Cup" contribution — and also sold individual days for $50 apiece to people wishing to honor a loved one.

Proceeds will benefit Beyond Boobs! and a local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Bowditch and Gibson hope to donate calendars to free clinics and centers that serve low-income women, who statistics show are more likely to die of cancer.

"No one should miss out on a better shot at early detection," said Bowditch, whose brother-in-law runs a well-known car dealership in Newport News.

She and Gibson, both currently cancer-free, have big dreams for Beyond Boobs!, too: They plan to help women across the country form local chapters.

"It's amazing how much we can buoy each other up," Gibson said. "We make each other feel that we can take charge of things, that we're still strong."

For more information about an Oct. 25 calendar launch party in Williamsburg— or to pre-order a copy of "A Calendar to Live By" — go to www.beyondboobs.org or call Rene Bowditch at 561-4749 or Mary Beth Gibson at 870-7758. The calendar costs $15 and will be ready the first week of October. It includes portraits, cancer statistics and risk factors, screening guidelines — including an annual mammogram after age 40 — tips on monthly self exams and information on diet, nutrition and stress management. Other resources for young breast cancer patients include the Young Survival Coalition (www.youngsurvival.org  or toll-free 877-972-1011), Mothers Supporting Daughters with Breast Cancer (www.mothersdaughters.org or 410-778- 1982) and the American Cancer Society (cancer.org or 591-8330 for the office in Newport News).