Not every face of breast cancer has wrinkles and grey hair. Hawkins discovered that thousands of women below the age of 39 develop breast cancer each year. And, younger women are faced with strikingly different obstacles than older women diagnosed with breast cancer. Beth Hawkins supplies intimate anecdotes from sixteen real women under the age of 40 who encountered breast cancer.
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Not every face of breast cancer has laugh lines and graying hair... Currently, in the United States alone, nearly 250,000 women under age 40 are living with breast cancer. This year, approximately 11,000 women under age 40 will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and close to 1,300 will die. For women in their twenties and thirties, being diagnosed with breast cancer is a vastly different experience than for their older counterparts. Despite their increasing numbers, young women with breast cancer often find themselves alone and with little information relevant to their age group. Most medical research has been done on post-menopausal women with breast cancer; most books on the subject are directed at middle-aged women, and support groups are often made up of retirees and grandmothers. Younger breast cancer survivors also tend to have less emotional and logistical support than older women. A 24-year-old college graduate can't relate to "telling the grandchildren," just as that grandmother can't easily relate to the dating dilemmas of a struggling 28-year-old broker. Consider: * A freelance filmmaker, at 27, facing surgery and chemotherapy with no medical insurance * A dancer, 26, trying to balance dating and intimacy with chemotherapy treatments * A pregnant therapist, 29, whose miscarriage and diagnosis take her life in an unexpected direction * A computer analyst, 39 and single, who desperately wants to have children
I'm Too Young To Have Breast Cancer! explores the emotional experiences of women ages forty and younger facing diagnosis, treatment, and life after the disease. Here are the sixteen of young women from all over the country, in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Some have a life partner, others live alone; some have children, others do not. They come from a wide range of ethnic and religious backgrounds. And they represent a range of socioeconomic levels, from factory worker to Wall Street analyst. I'm Too Young considers how breast cancer affects young women's lives: their career goals, health insurance coverage, career changes, education, and shifting work/life priorities. It shows us women dating during treatment and after, coming to terms with their altered bodies and sexuality, and making decisions about breast reconstruction. It tells the stories of a young mother explaining her diagnosis and treatment to her young daughter, a woman deciding whether to risk becoming pregnant after fighting the disease, and one determining whether to have her daughter tested for the breast cancer gene. And it looks at women struggling to gain strength from their religions in the face of spiritual crisis. Through the gift of shared experiences, freelance writer Beth Leibson-Hawkins offers comfort and companionship, and brings hope to a younger generation of breast cancer survivors.
From the Inside Flap
Not every face of breast cancer has laugh lines and graying hair...
Currently, in the United States alone, nearly 250,000 women under age 40 are living with breast cancer. This year, approximately 11,000 women under age 40 will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and close to 1,300 will die. For women in their twenties and thirties, being diagnosed with breast cancer is a vastly different experience than for their older counterparts.
Despite their increasing numbers, young women with breast cancer often find themselves alone and with little information relevant to their age group. Most medical research has been done on post-menopausal women with breast cancer; most books on the subject are directed at middle-aged women, and support groups are often made up of retirees and grandmothers. Younger breast cancer survivors also tend to have less emotional and logistical support than older women. A 24-year-old college graduate can’t relate to "telling the grandchildren," just as that grandmother can’t easily relate to the dating dilemmas of a struggling 28-year-old broker.
Consider:
· A freelance filmmaker, at 27, facing surgery and chemotherapy with no medical insurance
· A dancer, 26, trying to balance dating and intimacy with chemotherapy treatments
· A pregnant therapist, 29, whose miscarriage and diagnosis take her life in an unexpected direction
· A computer analyst, 39 and single, who desperately wants to have children
I’m Too Young To Have Breast Cancer! explores the emotional experiences of women ages forty and younger facing diagnosis, treatment, and life after the disease. Here are the sixteen of young women from all over the country, in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Some have a life partner, others live alone; some have children, others do not. They come from a wide range of ethnic and religious backgrounds. And they represent a range of socioeconomic levels, from factory worker to Wall Street analyst.
I’m Too Young considers how breast cancer affects young women’s lives: their career goals, health insurance coverage, career changes, education, and shifting work/life priorities. It shows us women dating during treatment and after, coming to terms with their altered bodies and sexuality, and making decisions about breast reconstruction. It tells the stories of a young mother explaining her diagnosis and treatment to her young daughter, a woman deciding whether to risk becoming pregnant after fighting the disease, and one determining whether to have her daughter tested for the breast cancer gene. And it looks at women struggling to gain strength from their religions in the face of spiritual crisis.
Through the gift of shared experiences, freelance writer Beth Leibson-Hawkins offers comfort and companionship, and brings hope to a younger generation of breast cancer survivors.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful, Useful, and Well-rounded!,
By Anna Robbins "Dr. Ann" (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I'm Too Young to Have Breast Cancer!: Regain Control of Your Life, Career, Family, Sexuality, and Faith (Hardcover)
I loved this book! Unfortunately I have two friends who are bc survivors and I've purchased several books on this topic. "I'm too Young to Have Breast Cancer" is the only one I have passed on to them. Other books seem to be about the "beautiful people" who get breast cancer and have every resource in the world. While the beautiful people deserve our best wishes and support too, Leibson-Hawkins' book is about real people who met this challenge head on, some of them on their own, and overcame it. I can't think of a more positive message. The women in this book range from the well off to a woman who had no health insurance to pay for her care. They are different races, religious, ages (all 40 and under). All of these women show strength and perseverance. I found inspiration in everyone of these 16 stories. I learned that the strength to survive can come from several different places (within yourself, friends, family, even your job). The author is not a survivor, but not every survivor is a writer. This book is extremely well-written and the author gives a voice to young survivors whose stories are still not heard.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving, inspiring, and well-written,
By Corey James (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I'm Too Young to Have Breast Cancer!: Regain Control of Your Life, Career, Family, Sexuality, and Faith (Hardcover)
This book is a quality, intelligent book that explores an issue that I haven't read about before. It focuses on the personal stories, the faces and lives behind young breast cancer victims. These life stories make the disease very real; whether or not we *like* everyone profiled is less important than the fact that these are all real people with their own approaches to the disease, their own levels of support systems, and their own (at times) emotional baggage. Obviously, I recommend this book incredibly highly to anyone who is dealing with this illness or has someone in their life (particularly someone young) dealing with this illness, but I also wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in people -- people who are persevering and struggling to deal with an illness that can strike anyone. A very well-done book, worth reading.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Glass is Half Empty,
By
This review is from: I'm Too Young to Have Breast Cancer!: Regain Control of Your Life, Career, Family, Sexuality, and Faith (Hardcover)
This review is from a spouse of a breast cancer survivor:
I must say that my wife has read several books on this topic during her recovery and reconstruction. This book by far is the most negative. It chronicles the stories of several women whom all seem to be late 20's / early 30's without a spouse or children. They had no support network and obviously were looking at the situation from a "glass is half empty" perspective. I would not recommend this book as an inspiring read for any woman or family member dealing with this disease looking for positive energy. There is none . Furthermore, it is written by someone who has never personally experienced it. Pick-up "Mama Told Me There Would Be Days Like These" or "Why I Wore Lipstick To My Masectomy" as alternatives. Both were written by breast cancer survivors and have a much more positive tone. Something we husbands desperately need as we are supporting our spouses.
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