Today, it is 25 years since my mother, Wilhelmine “Mimi” Lippert died of inflammatory breast cancer at age 65. It was a beautiful morning, just like today!

We had spent three days with her while she was lying in a coma in our living room as family and friends came to say farewell. She was leaving us and we were encouraging her to let go. She had stayed through her wedding anniversary on April 20th and that of my brother and sister-in-law’s on April 21st. It was time.

And, this year at age 65, it is the right moment for me to participate in the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers. I am doing it to honor my mother and all the women who have struggled with cancer – the survivors and the women whose fight, like my mother’s, continue to inspire us. We have made progress on behalf of breast cancer, but so much more remains to be done for all women’s cancers. When my mother died we created a fund at Ms. Magazine for health and science reporting. Since 1985, so much has been written on the subject, so many women have told their stories. And, we have come together again and again asking for, demanding, pushing for research that will find the cure.

The Weekend to End Women’s Cancers will benefit all of things that will make a difference – from care giving to research, and just as important, it will bring thousands of us together to reach these goals and to celebrate life.

The morning my mother first called me to say that her left breast had become swollen, red and blue-ish/purple, I had to put the phone down for a moment. I went to the freezer in my kitchen got the ice cube tray and put some on my forehead. I thought I was going to faint…my heart was already breaking. Days later, when we heard the diagnosis, we were shocked. I had never heard of inflammatory breast cancer. I began calling around the country for solutions, treatments. She did everything. Not just the mastectomy, chemo and radiation – she did visualizations, reading (I bought travel books to take her far away…), a photo of the beach in the Hamptons helped, my brother and sister-in-law took my parents to Florida (my mother had always wanted to see the Space Center), we went to restaurants although she couldn’t really eat, and after checking around for a wig made with real hair (as gorgeous as her own), we settled on one from the Eva Gabor Collection – which highlighted her spectacular blue eyes and her smile!

As usual on this morning, I am looking at a photo of my mother with tears in my eyes. But, this year I feel her looking down on me – on all of us – with a smile and with joy! She would love the idea, the energy and commitment of everyone involved with the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers.

Last night, I trained on Poplar Plains Road (8 times up that hill!) with a group from the Running Room, and I am already walking almost 20K. I feel like I can do the two-day, 60K walk! That means I am definitely ready to begin my fundraising campaign today!
My goal is $2,500. for the two-day walk.

Karin Lippert

The Shopper’s Drug Mart
Weekend to End Women’s Cancers
Canada – September 11 -12, 2010

The Weekend to End Women’s Cancers – across Canada – will benefit The Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto). The hospital is doing critical work at the Campbell Family Institute – breakthrough research, services, and care in the battle to end both breast and gynecologic cancers.

Our slogan for the weekend is: Cure One. Cure All. It is a two-day, 60K walk (or a person can do 30K in one day). In Toronto, more than 5,000 women and men join together for the walk. I am told it is a life-changing experience. I believe it. I know that when we all come together we are powerful – we can bring about change and a cure for all. I believe in their mission – it is everyone’s mission.

For information and to find out more about weekend, please visit: www.endcancer.ca

The release of a report suggesting that women should begin regular mammograms at 50 instead of forty shouldn’t obscure the fact that women over fifty should most definitely be conscientious about scheduling annual mammograms:

Here is what I wrote last month (see “Five Ways to Make Fall Work for You – Remember Good Health is about Maintenance):

“Older age is the single greatest risk factor for breast cancer in women. According to the American Cancer Society (1999), breast cancer risk increases from 1 in 67 at age 40 to 1 in 25 at age 70, and the incidence continues increasing to age 80. More than one-half of all breast cancers occur in women age 65 or over. Mammography screening has been demonstrated to reduce breast cancer mortality, especially among women in the age group 50-74 compared with those without mammography.”

Barbara Glickstein’s analysis of the current controversy, posted on the Women’s Media Center website (www.womensmediacenter.com), is the smartest I’ve read yet:

“As a feminist health activist who has followed the debates over mammography since the technology was introduced in the 1970s, I’m convinced that the current controversy has resulted from the premature promotion of mammography to younger women. Both the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute had recommended mammography for women ages 35 and older—before any research supported the advice. There was considerable controversy then, and a widespread belief that the recommendation to extend screening to women under 50 depended less on evidence than on politics.

What the new guidelines state is that baseline mammography should start at 50, not at 40. They don’t say never do it from 40 to 50 but just don’t automatically do it. Dr. Susan Love stated it clearly, “Mammography is not a good tool for finding breast cancer in younger women and we need to put our efforts to finding something better. Young women’s breasts are more sensitive to low dose radiation and starting yearly mammograms at 40 will cause as many breast cancers as it will find. With age the breast sensitivity to radiation becomes less and mammograms become more accurate and so it becomes worth it.”

Read the entire article at www.womensmediacenter.com. The Women’s Media Center makes women visible and powerful in the media. Led by its president, Jehmu Greene, the WMC works with the media to ensure that women’s stories are told and women’s voices are heard.