A Celebration of Life
BIDMC celebrates National Cancer Survivors’ Day
Date: 6/9/2009
BIDMC Contact: Jerry Berger
Phone: 617-667-7308
Email: jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON -- “Something just draws you to it,” Regina Marsolini said looking across the lawn at the hundreds of men and women gathered for the 16th annual Celebration of Life.
Marsolini is a breast cancer survivor. She has been cancer-free for a decade. And for each of those 10 years, she has attended the Celebration of Life, an event designed to bring patients, families, friends and staff from BIDMC together to celebrate life after cancer. The day-long event, held at Harvard Medical School, combines educational workshops led by BIDMC staff with feel-good treatments like massage, Reiki and make-up consultations.
The Celebration of Life is BIDMC’s way of recognizing National Cancer Survivors’ Day, an annual, worldwide event. The program is organized each year by a committee headed by two-time cancer survivor Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW.
“I remember when I was first diagnosed in 1993. I wondered who would care for my 12-year-old daughter,” Hill Schnipper said. “I am happy to say that I will be at her wedding in September.”
Hill Schnipper and her husband, Lowell Schnipper, MD, Chief of BIDMC’s Hematology/Oncology program, each made opening remarks that focused on courage.
“What keeps me, an oncologist, going everyday?” Schnipper asked the crowd under a tent on the Harvard Medical School quadrangle. “The courage I see around me.”
“Courage is fear that has said its prayers,” Hill Schnipper said. “Be reminded of our greatest treasure – each other.”
For Marsolini, Hill Schnipper’s remarks were “the best part of the day.”
“Hester is absolutely fabulous. She is an inspiration,” Marsolini said. “I attended her support groups. My cancer was found through a mammogram. It was completely out of the blue.”
When Colleen Happas discovered a lump in her breast two years ago, she came to BIDMC, where she was diagnosed with cancer. She said attending the Celebration of Life allows her to reconnect with the staff who treated her, people she felt “were hand-picked to care for” her. In fact, Happas is now participating in a clinical trial run by one of her nurses. Her nurse, Hallie Kasper, RN, MS, was one of two dozen BIDMC staff who led workshops during Celebration of Life.
Nadine Tung, MD, Director of the Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program, ran a workshop about the genetic risk for breast and ovarian cancers. She recommends genetic testing for persons of Ashkenazi Jewish descent as well as people with a family history of ovarian cancer, multiple cases of early onset breast cancer and/or a male with breast cancer. If a hereditary risk is found, Tung said options included frequent screenings, preventative medications and surgery.
For more information about the Celebration of Life log onto www.bidmc.org/col.
