Discussing Breast Cancer

Elizabeth Prostic (Lizzie) was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in October 2004. She was just 31 years old and a first time mom to a three-month-old baby at the time. She was one of Allison Winn Scotch’s closest friends.

Six months after her diagnosis, Lizzie passed away. Allison still grieves, still mourns … and yes, Lizzie was her inspiration as she started writing The Department of Lost & Found. But all those who’ve battled breast cancer inspire her, not just her friend.

Here’s something Allison said about survivors in a recent interview: “I’ve always walked away with the impression that these women are incredible and that their courage is unmatchable.”

Interestingly, Allison’s fictional character, Natalie, barely resembles Allison’s friend, Lizzie. However, Allison still viewed the book as an opportunity to rewrite her friend’s story: “Not her story in particular, but that of a woman who had so much left to live for. Only this time I could control the ending, rather than watch helplessly from the sidelines.”

Ah, to control the ending. Unfortunately, unless we’re talking about writing a story of our own, we just can’t do that now, can we? We don’t know the cards we’ll be dealt. We just have to make the best of the hand we get.

Allison herself said, “I really believe that life is what you do with it, something Natalie learns along her bumpy road as well. Losing Lizzie only heightened those feelings. The simple, and perhaps cliched, truth is that you only get one shot, and who knows when, how or why that might be stripped away from you.”

As I said yesterday when I reviewed The Department of Lost & Found, Lizzie would be proud of her friend, Allison.

She’d also be proud of her husband, Michael Lundblad, and her parents. Together, they established a foundation in her honor called The MetaCancer Foundation (www.metacancer.org) to provide inspiration and psychosocial support for patients and caregivers living with metastatic cancers.

It’s a great site. If you get a chance, check it out. Meanwhile, in case you don’t, tomorrow I’ll post about the red shoes.

Red shoes, you ask? Red shoes?

Ha, ha … you’ll have to wait and see!