Posts
GIVEAWAY ENDED How a Sister's Love Launched the
Global Movement to End Breast Cancer
BY NANCY G. BRINKER
REMEMBER ABOUT THE BOOK:
Suzy and Nancy Goodman were more than sisters. They were best friends, confidantes, and partners in the grand adventure of life. For three decades, nothing could separate them. Not college, not marriage, not miles. Then Suzy got sick. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977; three agonizing years later, at thirty-six, she died.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Goodman girls were raised in postwar Peoria, Illinois, by parents who believed that small acts of charity could change the world. Suzy was the big sister—the homecoming queen with an infectious enthusiasm and a generous heart. Nancy was the little sister—the tomboy with an outsized sense of justice who wanted to right all wrongs. The sisters shared makeup tips, dating secrets, plans for glamorous fantasy careers. They spent one memorable summer in Europe discovering a big world far from Peoria. They imagined a long life together—one in which they’d grow old together surrounded by children and grandchildren. Suzy’s diagnosis shattered that dream.
In 1977, breast cancer was still shrouded in stigma and shame. Nobody talked about early detection and mammograms. Nobody could even say the words “breast” and “cancer” together in polite company, let alone on television news broadcasts. With Nancy at her side, Suzy endured the many indignities of cancer treatment, from the grim, soul-killing waiting rooms to the mistakes of well-meaning but misinformed doctors. That’s when Suzy began to ask Nancy to promise. To promise to end the silence. To promise to raise money for scientific research. To promise to one day cure breast cancer for good. Big, shoot-for-the-moon promises that Nancy never dreamed she could fulfill. But she promised because this was her beloved sister. I promise, Suzy. . . . Even if it takes the rest of my life.
Suzy’s death—both shocking and senseless—created a deep pain in Nancy that never fully went away. But she soon found a useful outlet for her grief and outrage. Armed only with a shoebox filled with the names of potential donors, Nancy put her formidable fund-raising talents to work and quickly discovered a groundswell of grassroots support. She was aided in her mission by the loving tutelage of her husband, restaurant magnate Norman Brinker, whose dynamic approach to entrepreneurship became Nancy’s model for running her foundation. Her account of how she and Norman met, fell in love, and managed to achieve the elusive “true marriage of equals” is one of the great grown-up love stories among recent memoirs.
Nancy’s mission to change the way the world talked about and treated breast cancer took on added urgency when she was herself diagnosed with the disease in 1984, a terrifying chapter in her life that she had long feared. Unlike her sister, Nancy survived and went on to make Susan G. Komen for the Cure into the most influential health charity in the country and arguably the world. A pioneering force in cause-related marketing, SGK turned the pink ribbon into a symbol of hope everywhere. Each year, millions of people worldwide take part in SGK Race for the Cure events. And thanks to the more than $1.5 billion spent by SGK for cutting-edge research and community programs, a breast cancer diagnosis today is no longer a death sentence. In fact, in the time since Suzy’s death, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer has risen from 74 percent to 98 percent.
Promise Me is a deeply moving story of family and sisterhood, the dramatic “30,000-foot view” of the democratization of a disease, and a soaring affirmative to the question: Can one person truly make a difference?
MY REVIEW:
PROMISE ME by Nancy G. Brinker is a story you won't soon forget. Many of us know of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and all the good work this non-profit organization has done over the years but not many know the real story behind it. Nancy Brinker who has been the driving force behind this organization from the start, tells its story in this book. PROMISE ME not only tells how Nancy built the Susan G. Komen Foundation but the details of how she got people involved and how she keeps it going until this day. All of this is fascinating but the real story in PROMISE ME begins with Nancy and her sister, Susan; the real reason for this organization in the first place.
Brinker describes her life story which has been built around a solid family that she and Susan were a part of. In the first part of the book, Nancy tells about her relationship with Susan and about her sister’s zest for life. She reveals how Susan enjoyed life and was much like their father, a person who always volunteered in so many ways and also was just inherently dedicated to helping others. Nancy says of her sister Susan, that like their father, she never met a person she didn’t feel was a friend. Nancy, on the other hand, favored their mother who was a very strong-minded, ambitious, and reasonable, while never shy about having to push the system in order to accomplish one of her positive goals. Even though the girls’ parents had opposite personalities, they were a loving couple who instilled in their children the importance of the value of family, and having love and respect for each other, even if their views differed. They were wonderful parents and helped the girls to see the value of being independent thinkers while respecting others views as well. Family was everything to them.
The book also tells of Nancy and her former husband, Norman Brinker, who gave her so much in the way of how to organize and run a business. They met and fell deeply in love and were a great support and inspiration to each other. Norman’s idea of running a business for the people and not just for the business end of it alone, showed Nancy how that would always be of great benefit to all in the end. He was a great example to Nancy on how to treat your employees like family and the benefits you would reap in more than one way as a result of that. Much of the success of the Susan G. Komen Foundation is a result of what Nancy learned from Norman Brinker and how she put it in action in successfully running the organization.
The story goes on to describe the deep and loving bond between the sisters. It tells of Susan’s beast cancer diagnosis in 1977 and how at the time, people didn’t even talk about breast cancer. There in the early 1980’s, the treatments were awful and there was no cure. Nancy watched her sister suffer and she promised her that she would fight to make breast cancer awareness a real priority. Only three years later, Susan died and Nancy had her cause, and she went after it full steam. It also tells of the horror of Nancy herself discovering she had breast cancer but this was years later and she is now a survivor. This was just one more thing that spurred her on in her cause.
The book goes on to describe the history and major accomplishments over the years that have come about in breast cancer research, treatment, and cures. Many breast cancer survivors’ stories are in the book and it also includes the story of volunteers who give everything they have to help this cause. Starting with $200 and a few contacts, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure has raised more than 1.5 billion dollars to give for breast cancer research and the results are hopeful. Statistically, people never realized for instance that almost 340,000 women died during the ten year period of the Viet Nam War, while we sadly also lost over 58,000 service men. Yet, those women weren’t discussed back then. Great strides of course have been made today and yet, we still have about 40,000 women who die each year from Breast Cancer...still! How can we let this continue? We can’t, and if reading Nancy’s book, PROMISE ME does nothing more than make you aware that you must get yourself checked, that is a start. Hopefully, it will also inspire you to be like Susan and her father, and obviously Nancy of course, and see how YOU can help others. What part can you play in this battle? Can you sit by and not want to help find a Cure? I think not… and each person who reads this book will come away with their own way of helping but they also will come away not forgetting what they have read.
Suzy and Nancy Goodman were more than sisters. They were best friends, confidantes, and partners in the grand adventure of life. For three decades, nothing could separate them. Not college, not marriage, not miles. Then Suzy got sick. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977; three agonizing years later, at thirty-six, she died.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Goodman girls were raised in postwar Peoria, Illinois, by parents who believed that small acts of charity could change the world. Suzy was the big sister—the homecoming queen with an infectious enthusiasm and a generous heart. Nancy was the little sister—the tomboy with an outsized sense of justice who wanted to right all wrongs. The sisters shared makeup tips, dating secrets, plans for glamorous fantasy careers. They spent one memorable summer in Europe discovering a big world far from Peoria. They imagined a long life together—one in which they’d grow old together surrounded by children and grandchildren. Suzy’s diagnosis shattered that dream.
In 1977, breast cancer was still shrouded in stigma and shame. Nobody talked about early detection and mammograms. Nobody could even say the words “breast” and “cancer” together in polite company, let alone on television news broadcasts. With Nancy at her side, Suzy endured the many indignities of cancer treatment, from the grim, soul-killing waiting rooms to the mistakes of well-meaning but misinformed doctors. That’s when Suzy began to ask Nancy to promise. To promise to end the silence. To promise to raise money for scientific research. To promise to one day cure breast cancer for good. Big, shoot-for-the-moon promises that Nancy never dreamed she could fulfill. But she promised because this was her beloved sister. I promise, Suzy. . . . Even if it takes the rest of my life.
Suzy’s death—both shocking and senseless—created a deep pain in Nancy that never fully went away. But she soon found a useful outlet for her grief and outrage. Armed only with a shoebox filled with the names of potential donors, Nancy put her formidable fund-raising talents to work and quickly discovered a groundswell of grassroots support. She was aided in her mission by the loving tutelage of her husband, restaurant magnate Norman Brinker, whose dynamic approach to entrepreneurship became Nancy’s model for running her foundation. Her account of how she and Norman met, fell in love, and managed to achieve the elusive “true marriage of equals” is one of the great grown-up love stories among recent memoirs.
Nancy’s mission to change the way the world talked about and treated breast cancer took on added urgency when she was herself diagnosed with the disease in 1984, a terrifying chapter in her life that she had long feared. Unlike her sister, Nancy survived and went on to make Susan G. Komen for the Cure into the most influential health charity in the country and arguably the world. A pioneering force in cause-related marketing, SGK turned the pink ribbon into a symbol of hope everywhere. Each year, millions of people worldwide take part in SGK Race for the Cure events. And thanks to the more than $1.5 billion spent by SGK for cutting-edge research and community programs, a breast cancer diagnosis today is no longer a death sentence. In fact, in the time since Suzy’s death, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer has risen from 74 percent to 98 percent.
Promise Me is a deeply moving story of family and sisterhood, the dramatic “30,000-foot view” of the democratization of a disease, and a soaring affirmative to the question: Can one person truly make a difference?
MY REVIEW:
PROMISE ME by Nancy G. Brinker is a story you won't soon forget. Many of us know of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and all the good work this non-profit organization has done over the years but not many know the real story behind it. Nancy Brinker who has been the driving force behind this organization from the start, tells its story in this book. PROMISE ME not only tells how Nancy built the Susan G. Komen Foundation but the details of how she got people involved and how she keeps it going until this day. All of this is fascinating but the real story in PROMISE ME begins with Nancy and her sister, Susan; the real reason for this organization in the first place.
Brinker describes her life story which has been built around a solid family that she and Susan were a part of. In the first part of the book, Nancy tells about her relationship with Susan and about her sister’s zest for life. She reveals how Susan enjoyed life and was much like their father, a person who always volunteered in so many ways and also was just inherently dedicated to helping others. Nancy says of her sister Susan, that like their father, she never met a person she didn’t feel was a friend. Nancy, on the other hand, favored their mother who was a very strong-minded, ambitious, and reasonable, while never shy about having to push the system in order to accomplish one of her positive goals. Even though the girls’ parents had opposite personalities, they were a loving couple who instilled in their children the importance of the value of family, and having love and respect for each other, even if their views differed. They were wonderful parents and helped the girls to see the value of being independent thinkers while respecting others views as well. Family was everything to them.
The book also tells of Nancy and her former husband, Norman Brinker, who gave her so much in the way of how to organize and run a business. They met and fell deeply in love and were a great support and inspiration to each other. Norman’s idea of running a business for the people and not just for the business end of it alone, showed Nancy how that would always be of great benefit to all in the end. He was a great example to Nancy on how to treat your employees like family and the benefits you would reap in more than one way as a result of that. Much of the success of the Susan G. Komen Foundation is a result of what Nancy learned from Norman Brinker and how she put it in action in successfully running the organization.
The story goes on to describe the deep and loving bond between the sisters. It tells of Susan’s beast cancer diagnosis in 1977 and how at the time, people didn’t even talk about breast cancer. There in the early 1980’s, the treatments were awful and there was no cure. Nancy watched her sister suffer and she promised her that she would fight to make breast cancer awareness a real priority. Only three years later, Susan died and Nancy had her cause, and she went after it full steam. It also tells of the horror of Nancy herself discovering she had breast cancer but this was years later and she is now a survivor. This was just one more thing that spurred her on in her cause.
The book goes on to describe the history and major accomplishments over the years that have come about in breast cancer research, treatment, and cures. Many breast cancer survivors’ stories are in the book and it also includes the story of volunteers who give everything they have to help this cause. Starting with $200 and a few contacts, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure has raised more than 1.5 billion dollars to give for breast cancer research and the results are hopeful. Statistically, people never realized for instance that almost 340,000 women died during the ten year period of the Viet Nam War, while we sadly also lost over 58,000 service men. Yet, those women weren’t discussed back then. Great strides of course have been made today and yet, we still have about 40,000 women who die each year from Breast Cancer...still! How can we let this continue? We can’t, and if reading Nancy’s book, PROMISE ME does nothing more than make you aware that you must get yourself checked, that is a start. Hopefully, it will also inspire you to be like Susan and her father, and obviously Nancy of course, and see how YOU can help others. What part can you play in this battle? Can you sit by and not want to help find a Cure? I think not… and each person who reads this book will come away with their own way of helping but they also will come away not forgetting what they have read.
GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO JULIE AND THE PEOPLE AT
CROWN PUBLISHING I HAVE ONE COPY OF
THIS AMAZING BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
THANKS TO JULIE AND THE PEOPLE AT
CROWN PUBLISHING I HAVE ONE COPY OF
THIS AMAZING BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
YOU CAN GO HERE TO SEE THE FIRST PART OF
THIS POST AND MORE WAYS TO ENTER
+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHY YOU WOULD LIKE TO WIN THIS BOOK
+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE CURRENT GIVEAWAY YOU HAVE ENTERED FROM THIS BLOG. ONLY ONE THIS TIME, PLEASE.
+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET OR SHARE ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY ON THE SOCIAL NETWORK OR BLOG OF YOUR CHOICE. EACH PLACE YOU POST SHOULD BE SEPARATE AND WITH A LINK LEFT IN YOUR COMMENT.
6 PM, EST, OCTOBER 13!
14 comments:
I would like to read this book because it is inspiring and real. thanks. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com
I entered Katie Up and Down The Hall. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com
There are probably very few families that haven’t experienced cancer of some type so I would I would guess that many people could relate to this book from a personal standpoint. I lost both of my parents to cancer and it is really an emotional ride and I am sure this book is most likely an emotional to read as well. I would like to read this book maybe for couple of reasons. First to see how someone else dealt with sadness, and anger and secondly maybe gain some insight in how to respond to others that may be experiencing this dreadful disease. Thanks for the opportunity.
steven(dot)capell(at)gmail(dot)com
Breast cancer affects so many people. My grandmother died of it when I was very young and I never knew that that is what she died from until I was in my 30's.
seknobloch(at)gmail(dot)com
I entered "Katie-Up and Down the Hall.
seknobloch(at)gmail(dot)com
I have known about her foundation for years, but I never knew the story behind it. I lost my father and uncle to cancer. My son has inoperable tumors. I would like to read this book.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
I entered the comfort of apples giveaway.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. It sounds really good. Tore923@aol.com
I love inspirational books.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
Entered My Lost Daughter giveaway.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
I would like to win this book becasue I love encouraging/inspiring books. I also have an aunt who is a breast cancer activist and this book my be able to shed some light on what she goes through.
hmhenderson AT yahoo DOT com
Entered The Room giveaway.
hmhenderson AT yahoo DOT com
I would like to read this book because I'd like to know more about their story, and how the whole thing got started.
akreese (at) hotmail (dot) com
I entered the Search For Wondla giveaway.
akreese (at) hotmail (dot) com
Post a Comment