After 26 years of working with patients, their partners and caregivers and the astoundingly wonderful staff of Bay Area Cancer Connections as a volunteer patient, workplace, benefits and insurance advocate, it was my absolute honor and joy to be a presenter at their phenomenal annual conference. Walking into the beautiful Oracle Conference Center, my eye was immediately drawn to the bright pink typeface on the signage, Sharing Knowledge and Inspiring Hope.
Some amazing things happened. I saw women I knew in other contexts for many years and the evidence of how we all cared about something so crucial felt like a salve. My dear friend, Karlette, who has volunteered for the organization along with me for decades, signed up to be my timekeeper (and I needed her, not just for the moral support, I was going over!). I met new people of such wisdom, energy and depth doing amazing things with their time to try to improve the health journeys of others. We were there to lift each other up and try to make sense of the scary and the confusing together. Doctors, nutritionists, nurses, nonprofit executives, business leaders, survivors, thrivers, previvors, and people in active treatment. All of us rowing in the same direction towards better understanding and solutions to support one another through our shared human experience.
Being there among good people who care that way was enough to soothe my soul and keep me invigorated about my work and the release of my upcoming book on the subject. I am more motivated than ever to help as many women as I can through their health journeys.
But something even bigger went down. I realized, amongst experts and deeply committed people, that what we’re doing, what I have always tried for in my work through the Sturm and Drang of legal changes, steps forward and cutbacks, is fashioning ways to work within a flawed system. It’s not that we give up on hoping for large-scale improvements, but that we tap into our deepest humanity and try to help one another in the here and now.
Our healthcare system and many of the rules and laws that apply to it were not initially conceived to address the needs of women. Other priorities ruled. Change has been slow and less than linear. Yet excellent humans have organized themselves around the principle that whatever the overriding circumstances, there are ways to work from within to create healthier, safer, more positive conditions. When it comes to women’s health, this is where I stand. I’m prepared to do more of what I have always done and I will learn from the amazing Bay Area Cancer Connections community to keep sharing knowledge and inspiring hope.
