Hearing the Stream by Diane Lane Chambers

Author:Diane Lane Chambers
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780976096771
Publisher: Ellexa Press LLC

By this time, after spending so many hours with Harriette, I was beginning to realize how much I was learning from her, not only about her and her cancer, but also about myself, about human nature, and about how precious life is. When we have a brush with death, we take a second look at how we are living. From that new perspective, we don’t put off for tomorrow what we can do today. We start doing all of our living now. And we look for ways to make a difference somehow, so that our lives mean something.

After we come out from a personal crisis, in control after the chaos, we have energy to focus outside of ourselves again. We want to effect positive change so others may benefit from our experience. We get involved. We do things we never did before. Harriette got involved in the politics of breast cancer.

As I’d been reading and learning about the history of breast cancer, Harriette opened my eyes to the politics. She told me about the Colorado Breast Cancer Coalition, which she joined in 1993, a year after her recurrence, and she introduced me to Anne Weiher, a friend who was the coordinator of the coalition at that time.

From Anne Weiher I found out more about the grassroots advocacy group and Harriette’s role in it when she and I met for lunch one day. Anne explained to me that the coalition was aligned with the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), which was established in 1991 to educate and teach patients how to become effective advocates. “When Harriette joined the coalition,” Anne said, “we were working to galvanize people around Colorado in support of state legislation that would require insurance companies to cover cancer patients who were participating in clinical trials. Harriette started to help us in trying to get the bill passed. Then, in the spring of ‘94, she volunteered to be the secretary for the group.

“At that time, Harriette didn’t look too good, and people were concerned,” Anne said. “Another member of the coalition called me and said, ‘I don’t think Harriette should be the secretary; I don’t think she’s gonna make it through the summer.’ Everyone thought Harriette was dying, and they thought she was in denial because she was making plans for the future. But I didn’t think that was a good enough reason to not let her take the secretary job, so we gave it to her. For two more years she helped us as we tried to get the bill passed on reimbursement for cancer patients involved in clinical trials, but the bill failed, twice.”

As Anne portrayed what was happening at that time, I was picturing Harriette at those meetings. In my mind I saw her, thin and gray of pallor, showing up to each coalition meeting with pen and paper in hand. The image quickly faded when Anne said, “As it turned out, Harriette was the first and only recording secretary, serving during the entire life of the coalition from 1994–2000.

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