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A Salute to Rose Kushner for BCAM

A Salute to Rose Kushner for BCAM

The Guiliana thread (which I don’t want to re-hash) elicited many opinions about surgical options, but what many folks are not aware of is that there was a time that women diagnosed with breast cancer did not have options. There was only mastectomy, and usually the Halstead (named after Dr. Halstead) mastectomy was performed where everything but the kitchen sink was removed, leaving women with concave chests, lymphedema and worse. Plus, when the woman was being prepared for surgery, she did not have any idea if she would wake up with breasts, or not. The tumor was removed, instantly tested for cancer and if it was positive the surgeon made the decision for mastectomy.

Enter Rose Kushner. Mrs. Kushner was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1974 and consequently the surgical world was never the same. She would not have any part in what was the standard of care at that time. Being a journalist, with some medical background, she went to the library and partook in extensive research which led her to make her own surgical decision – to remove only the lump. The problem was the first 18 surgeons she saw (yes, you read that right) declined to do what she wanted. Fortunately, the 19th surgeon was agreeable to Mrs. Kushner's request.

She was a fierce advocate who was literally escorted out of one hospital by guards while visiting women who had had mastectomies. The surgeons barred her from seeing their patients and "poisoning" their minds.

The feisty lady continued to advocate for breast cancer patients until she died of the disease in 1990. She has a wicked sense of humor, too.

There is a lot of information online about Mrs. Kushner and all that she accomplished for breast cancer patients.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kushner-rose

Her obit from the NYT is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/10/obituaries/rose-kushner-60-leader-in-breast-cancer-fight.html