To Life!

Mind-Body-Spirit

Approach

Survivor rallies supporters
for triathlon to help fight breast cancer.

Photos by Ed Berne

Judith Doner Berne

Special to the Jewish News

D

r. Ruth Lerman knows
the waters of Mirror
Lake near her West
Bloomfield home very well.
They've been her practice
venue for the upcoming Metro
New York Danskin Women's
Triathlon that she and her
daughter, Sarah Lerner-Sinkoff,
will compete in on Sept. 17,
along with the team each has
mobilized. Proceeds go to
the Breast Cancer Research
Foundation.
The family-plus affair also
includes husband, Dr. Mark
Sinkoff, and son Dov, a fresh-
man engineering student at the
University of Michigan. They are
volunteer "bike angels:' in case
of blown tires or breakdowns.
A goal is to raise awareness for
the workshop for breast cancer
survivors that Lerman, a three-
time survivor and an internist
specializing in breast disease,
runs out of 'William Beaumont
Hospital's Barnum Center in
Birmingham. She calls the work-
shop "Silver Linings" and consid-
ers it a chance for her — and the
people who take it — to give to
one another.
"My second breast cancer
taught me the importance of
a mind-body-spirit approach
to wellness," Lerman says. "For
many women, completing treat-
ment can be a surprisingly dif-
ficult time. They've had medical
staff, family and friends swarm-
ing around them.
"And then that falls away:' she
says, and they are left alsone to
deal with the fear that the cancer
will come back.
Lerman began the program
last fall, meeting 6:30-8:30 p.m.

on Wednesdays. This
year, a second class
runs 9:30-11:30
a.m. Fridays begin-
ning Sept. 8. The
Wednesday class
begins Sept. 20. Each
runs eight weeks.
She combines "my
medical training and
illness-based learn-
ing with my study of
Jewish ritual, yoga,
meditation, thera-
peutic writing, spiri-
tuality and physical
fitness," Lerman
says.
Participants pick
a goal and receive
support and guid-
ance in fulfilling it.

a three-time breast cancer survivor,

will do the swim leg of the triathlon for the team of

three women physicians.

Lerman says. "They say,
`I survived, now what
can I give back?' Their
presence is giving back
to the others. Some
are mentors; some
are needier. Some just
finished treatment and
some are as many as 12
years out.
"My fantasy:' she says,
"is that next year, I will
take a group of these
survivors (to the triath-
lon)."
This year, fellow
physicians — breast
surgeon Nayana
Dekhne and physical
rehabilitation specialist
Randi Long — will join
Lerman's team. Dekhne

Tenth-grader Sarah Lerman-Sinkoff will do the running leg for the three-teenager team. Tenth-grader

Abbie Schreier, whose aunt had breast cancer, will do the swim leg.

Many focus on weight loss and
exercise that have been shown
to decrease risk of breast can-
cer recurrence. They also work

to achieve a sense of wellness,
wholeness and calm.
"For a lot of people, getting
breast cancer is a wake-up call,"

will do the five kilometer (3.2
mile) running leg and Long, a
breast cancer survivor, will do
the 20K (13 mile) bike ride.

A trio of 10th-graders makes
up Sarah's team. Abbie Schreier,
a swimmer for Birmingham
Groves High School who just
medaled at the 2006 JCC
MaCcabi Games, will partici-
pate with Lerman in the .75K
open water swim in the Atlantic
Ocean. Evie Morel-Samuels of
Chelsea High School will do the
cycling. Sarah, who plays bas-
ketball for West Bloomfield High
School and is a fencer, will do
the run.
Evie and Abbie have aunts
who have had breast cancer.
"It's something to keep an
eye out for myself, not in fear of
it but in acceptance of reality:'
Sarah says. "It's good to know
my mom is doing everything
she can to prevent a recurrence.
I want other survivor moms to
know that Silver Linings can
help them identify their goals
and attain them."
Taking the workshop helped
Barbara Coslow, a Troy resident,
find out "that some of other sur-
vivors concerns are your con-
cerns. You're not just being really
weird. It's just a really positive
workshop that-shows you how to
take control of your life."
"It helped me deal with 'the
new normal, " says Victoria Elias
of Macomb Township. "The big
issue is the fear of it returning.
Dr. Lerman was a very gentle
leader of the group." 11

Silver Linings meetings are
free and open to anyone
who has completed breast
cancer treatment. To pre-
register or learn more,
contact Pam Jablonski at
pjablonski@beaumontedu
or (248) 551-4645.

September 7 d 2005

33