Tuesday night I watched the 1997 documentary "Rachel's Daughters: Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer," with a group of women, all but one of us cancer survivors or living with cancer.
Our connection was Team Survivor Northwest, a nonprofit that offers a wide range of exercise and fitness programs to women who have or have had cancer. (My friend Monica, the lone cancer-free woman in the room, is the program director at Team Survivor.)
After the credits rolled, we had one of the most intense discussions about cancer that I've ever had in my life. We talked over each other. We interrupted each other. It's not that we are rude: We just had so much to say.
Our conclusion? Not much has changed in the 12 years since this film was produced. And that's a frightening conclusion for those of us who are living with this disease and those of us who worry about our daughters getting breast cancer.
We still don't know what causes breast cancer. Not really. And we still don't know how to prevent it.
The film does point some pretty persuasive fingers at environmental causes. That's where the title comes from, the women featured in the film saw themselves as the daughters of Rachel Carson, who was dying of breast cancer when she wrote "Silent Spring"--something I didn't know until last night.
Another issue that gets a lot of attention in the documentary: Black women are less likely to get breast cancer than white women, but if they do get it, they are more likely to die of it. The debate rages as to whether this is because black women don't have the same access to quality care that white women do, or because they get different kinds of breast cancer. Minority women are also often exposed to nasty carcinogens in their neighborhoods and workplaces. My guess? The answer is probably "all of the above."
I highly recommend the film. But with a caution: This is a very intense and moving story. These women are angry (none of that "breast cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me" crap), and one of the women in the group, a very young woman, dies of her disease--her death and funeral become part of the story.
It's hard to watch.
Having said that, I would like to know if anyone has done a follow-up to "Rachel's Daughters"? I'd like to know more about the women, and would like to know if their research resulted in any changes in the breast cancer world. To me, 10 years out with my cancer, it seems like same-old same-old, but maybe I'm getting cynical.
If you know of any follow-up to the film, please shoot me an e-mail and tell me about it: jeanne.sather@gmail.com
@ Jeanne Sather 2009.
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