MomDot.com, February 2009
MD: Hi Fran! My name is Trisha and I represent MomDot.com which is an ultra cool online mommy blog (if we say so ourselves) *patting back*. We are so happy to be talking to you today. We noticed you found us via social networking, which is how we found you! Now we are a parenting/mom site, but we reach an audience that also encompasses women businesses, dads, and boutiques. Do you visit any online blogs regularly or have one of your own? We want to hear your favorites!
FD: Yes, I’ve finally joined the era of technology, and believe me, it took me a bit to get used to it, but now I have fun Twittering from my cell! I have my own blog on www.CancerSchmancer.org where I talk about cancer awareness and my recent trips to Eastern Europe as a U.S. Public Diplomacy Envoy for Women’s Health Issues. ::Phew:: Long name, but not bad for a chubby girl from Queens!
MD: We know you have a twitter account and we love reading your updates. What role does social networking (twitter, myspace, facebook, etc) play in your life right now? Does it help you in getting the word out for your organization or is it just a way to connect to fans and friends?
FD: You know, the funny thing about these sites is that it just proves this truly is a small world after all. I’ll get friend requests from people who grew up in Queens or people that went to school with my sister’s best friend’s milkman who ended up marrying a friend of the family. It surely is a way to stay connected with people from all across the globe. But all in all, these sites are just a great way for me to connect with women and share with them information about cancer prevention, living healthy, and taking control of their bodies.
MD: We know you don’t have any children, have you ever wanted or thought about having children? We have one we can give you…and a few extra cats.
FD: The cure for my cancer was a radical hysterectomy, a difficult operation for any woman but for one who had never had children like myself, it was a particularly bitter pill to swallow. So I gave birth to a best selling book called CANCER SCHMANCER and became an advocate for women’s health instead.
You can keep your cats – I have the most beautiful chocolate Pomeranian named Esther who is my love and my family.
MD: Lets talk about your organization Cancer Schmancer. We know you were diagnosed with Uterine Cancer and then had a successful surgery (yeah!) and lived to tell, and share, about it. I have to admit to you that I haven’t been in for a regular pap smear in FOUR years. I know, I know……………. here comes the lecture. But I have to be honest about it. I am scared of the doctor, they make me seriously uncomfortable. How do you recommend women like me get over that fear and just go?
FD: It took me two years and eight doctors to get a proper diagnosis for the symptoms I was experiencing, which turned out to be uterine cancer. Honey, I got in the stirrups more times then Roy Rogers! So then I wrote the NY times bestseller CANCER SCHMANCER with the hopes that in telling my story I would prevent what happened to me to happen to others. But when I went on my book tour, I realized that what happened to me had happened to millions of women like me. And so it was then I realized the book was not the end but rather the beginning of a life mission to improve women’s healthcare in America. I founded the Cancer Schmancer Foundation and the Cancer Schmancer Movement, both dedicated to ensuring that all women with cancer are diagnosed in Stage 1, when it most curable. The Cancer Schmancer Foundation educates women on the risk factors, early warning signs, and tests that are available for early detection of women’s cancers. The Cancer Schmancer Movement advocates for improved women’s cancer healthcare legislation.
Now for the speech. Honey, I think a lot of people are afraid of going to the doctor and this is why we must transform from patients into medical consumers. Women worldwide must take control of their bodies and leave behind the Victorian notion that “if you can grin and bear it, do so, because your family comes first.” And I’m here to say that if you put your family’s health first, you’re really putting them last because you are useless to them when you are six feet under!
So educate yourself, bring a list of questions with you when you go to your appointments and become a better partner with your doctor. Whose life is it anyway? For all women who are afraid of getting their patooties in the examination room, read my blog which, through my experience, details the right way to go to the doctor.
MD: How many lives do you feel you have touched or helped via CancerSchmancer.org? Is it a full time job for you?
FD: I’m like a magnet for people’s health stories. Everywhere I go, I hear it, because although people still know me as “The Nanny”, more and more people know me as a health advocate, come up to me on the street to talk about cancer. And let me tell you, cancer does not discriminate. I’ve met people of all ages, shapes, colors, and sizes with cancer. This is my life’s mission.
We have thousands of men and women who are members of the Cancer Schmancer Movement and I am fortunate enough to be able to share my experiences and initiatives of the movement everywhere I go, whether it’s in Romania or on the Rachael Ray show! My message is universal. Take control of your body!
MD: We think you look AMAZING. What is a tip you can share with our readers about you being so glowing? Is it makeup? Staying out of the sun? Happy life?
FD: Two words: healthy living. I maintain a healthy diet, exercise, and minimize my stress. You can’t take life so seriously all the time. Put on your sunscreen and take a walk on the beach every once and a while. It’s called life for a reason. Live it.
MD: We noticed you had some great products that benefit Cancer Schmancer. Did you design them yourself?
FD: Our logo which is a sun, is a symbol of my wellness. My anniversary of wellness falls on June 21st, the summer solstice, which poetically is the longest day of sunlight each year. Our online store has a lot of really great items, from tea cups to t-shirts which are great gifts for you and your loved ones.
MD: Was writing a book about your experience therapeutic? We love to 51qt3v6nn7l_sl160_read, but we are not sure we have the attention span it takes to write a book.
FD: Writing my book Cancer Schmancer was a way for me to take control my experience. I had to write four drafts to find the funny bone and to let go of some the anger I was experiencing. It was very cathartic for me and I recommend anyone going through tough times to write down their feelings.
MD: Is there one story of someone out there that has reached out to you and showed you what you are doing is making a difference?
FD: We get so much positive feedback from people who see me on a show and log onto our site, or who have read one of our articles and are dedicated to making a change in their life to become better partners with their physicians and play an active role in their life. Just recently we heard from a girl in Hawaii who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 21. She was reading one of our articles and realized she also had symptoms of uterine cancer. She was in the process of going through the many loops with her doctor who couldn’t figure out what was going on. She said she went back to the doctor and brought it to his attention and his face went pale as if he was thinking, “Why didn’t I see it?” If she didn’t read the article, she would have been seeing her neurologist instead of her oncologist.
Her story is one of many and I know I am making a difference when women are educating themselves and taking their health into their own hands. Ultimately, early detection equals survival. I hope to someday live in a world where no woman loses her life due to late stage diagnosis of cancer.
MD: Last but not least, please feel free to share with us anything you want our readers to know about you, your book, your site, etc. that we have not covered.
FD: Doctors are bludgeoned by big business health insurance companies to go the least expensive route of diagnostic testing. They are trained to think, “If you hear hooves galloping, don’t look for zebra because it’s probably a horse.” But if you happen to be a zebra, you’re royally screwed. That is why we must be in the driver’s seat when it comes to our health care. Doctor’s are well-intentioned, but they are not gods. Because when the doctor calls to tell you you have cancer, he goes home to eat dinner with his family, while you go home to eat your heart out with yours.
We want all women to remember that the early warning signs of cancer are often ignored or misdiagnosed for far more benign illnesses. For instance, women with ovarian cancer are often misdiagnosed as having Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). When I meet a woman who tells me she has IBS, I say, “Honey, I hope that’s what you have. But, for a moment, step away from the gastroenterologist, go to your gynecologist, and get a TVU (trans-vaginal ultrasound) and a CA-125 blood test to ensure it’s not ovarian cancer.” 80% of all women with ovarian cancer find out in the late stages, and 70% of them will die. This must change.
Nobody knows YOUR body like YOU do. You have to pay very close attention, be armed with information, get your loved ones involved in your health care and be involved in theirs, and ensure that you get your questions answered and NEVER let a doctor tell you that you don’t fit “the profile” for this disease or that one. I was told by one doctor that I was too young for a D&C, a test that could have helped diagnose me. And me – like a schmuck – rather than saying “Now wait a minute, what would that prove or disprove”, I was just happy to be too young for anything! The moral of the story is that – no matter our age - we must take control of our bodies and our personal health.
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