BREAST CANCER page 14
`The trouble with statistics is
statistics don't have faces," said
Leah Snyder, vice chair of devel-
opment of the Sinai Health Care
Foundation. "Does that one have
the face of your mother, your sis-
ter, your daughter?"
Ms. Ellerbee, an ardent fern-
Mist who tells her tale in a
folksy manor, related de-
tails of her life from the
time she left her home
in Houston for Van-
derbilt University to
her recent struggle
with breast cancer.
In recognition of Breast
Cancer Awareness Month,
Sinai Health Care Founda-
tion and the Sinai Health
System Cis and
Emanuel N. Maisel
Center sponsored
the Temple Israel
luncheon, which
attracted more
than 500 women.
While her life
has been full of ups
and downs, both per-
sonally and professionally, one
major mark in Ms. Ellerbee's ex-
istence was the day in June 1991
when she discovered a painful
lump in her breast. Told by her
doctor that pain meant the lump
was not cancerous, she waited
months before having it more
thoroughly examined.
It was cancer.
"I did not listen to my body,"
she said. "No one in my family
had had breast cancer, something
my daughter cannot say."
Enduring a double mastecto-
my and rigorous chemotherapy,
Ms. Ellerbee survived the can-
,. cer and has recently passed
a followup cancer screen-
ing.
But cancer has
changed her. Once a
smoker, she has quit.
In June 1991,
she discovered a
painful lump.
Once blase about ex-
ercise, she has
joined a health
club.
And the changes
have been difficult.
At the health club she
decided to join, the women wore
no clothing as they headed to the
showers. Other members stared
at her scarred chest, causing her
to once again don a towel.
"It is one thing to talk about
breast cancer," she said. "Seeing
it is another."
But that is not to say that her
experiences have all been nega-
tive or that her trademark sense
of humor was removed with her
breasts. A few years ago she at-
tended a luncheon for breast
cancer survivors at the Plaza
Hotel in New York City. Partic-
ipants were asked to note one
positive thing that has happened
in their lives since their breast
cancer was diagnosed.
"One woman wrote that she
had gotten married. Another
wrote that she had gotten di-
vorced. Both seemed equally
happy," she said.
The experience of surviving
cancer has also galvanized her
spirit. She has joined thousands
of women lobbying for more
money from the federal budget
to fund breast cancer research.
Their efforts have paid off: In
1991, $70 million in federal
funds went to the research, but
three years later $400 million
was allocated.
"I like noise," she said. "That
is what noise can do."
She went on to encourage
more noise, urging the audience
to become active on the breast
cancer issue..
"Why don't we encourage [leg-
islators] to take some money
from the defense budget and use
it to study the health of our cit-
izens?" ❑
A Joy Ride
Temple Shir Shalom's head rabbi stepped into the
mystical realm and wrung meaning from it for
everyday living.
JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER
R
abbi Dannel I. Schwartz
recalls a pivotal day in his
life some years ago.
A woman he knew who
had lost a husband and a child
within two years told him she
had finally broke free from her
suffocating grief by "practicing"
the tasks she used to perform
without thought. She had
learned, slowly, to find content-
ment in her life, beginning with
simply getting dressed in the
morning.
Some hours later, another
woman, a partner in a law firm,
came to him asking why her life
was so miserable. Her Mercedes
Benz squeaked when it turned,
her child wasn't as keen as his
classmates, and she suspected
she could have made it much
bigger had she lived on the East
or West coast.
Both of these episodes form
the beginning of Rabbi
Schwartz's second book, Find-
ing Joy: A Practical Guide to
Spiritual Happiness, which just
became available at Barnes &
Noble in West Bloomfield. The
rabbi, Temple Shir Shalom's
spiritual director, will discuss
the book at the Jewish Book
Fair on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at
the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield.
During the past ten years,
Rabbi Schwartz has journeyed
into the Jewish mystical texts
that form the Kabbalah, ex-
tracting and applying their ideas
to everyday living.
"Because it is so powerful and
it is such wonderful stuff, if giv-
en to the normal person in a
very practical way, [he or she]
can achieve a joyful life, al-
though not necessarily a suc-
cessful life. They might not be
the richest kids on the block, but
they'll be the happiest," he said.
O
JOY RIDE page 18
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