Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer | 
| Author: Nancy G. Brinker
Creator: Joni Rodgers
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $14.03
as of 9/4/2010 20:24 CDT details
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Rating:  1 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.6
ISBN: 0307718123
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.196994490092
EAN: 9780307718129
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Product Description
Suzy and Nancy Goodman were more than sisters. They were best friends, confidantes, and partners in the grand adventure of life. For three decades, nothing could separate them. Not college, not marriage, not miles. Then Suzy got sick. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977; three agonizing years later, at thirty-six, she died.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Goodman girls were raised in postwar Peoria, Illinois, by parents who believed that small acts of charity could change the world. Suzy was the big sister—the homecoming queen with an infectious enthusiasm and a generous heart. Nancy was the little sister—the tomboy with an outsized sense of justice who wanted to right all wrongs. The sisters shared makeup tips, dating secrets, plans for glamorous fantasy careers. They spent one memorable summer in Europe discovering a big world far from Peoria. They imagined a long life together—one in which they’d grow old together surrounded by children and grandchildren.
Suzy’s diagnosis shattered that dream.
In 1977, breast cancer was still shrouded in stigma and shame. Nobody talked about early detection and mammograms. Nobody could even say the words “breast” and “cancer” together in polite company, let alone on television news broadcasts. With Nancy at her side, Suzy endured the many indignities of cancer treatment, from the grim, soul-killing waiting rooms to the mistakes of well-meaning but misinformed doctors. That’s when Suzy began to ask Nancy to promise. To promise to end the silence. To promise to raise money for scientific research. To promise to one day cure breast cancer for good. Big, shoot-for-the-moon promises that Nancy never dreamed she could fulfill. But she promised because this was her beloved sister.
I promise, Suzy. . . . Even if it takes the rest of my life.
Suzy’s death—both shocking and senseless—created a deep pain in Nancy that never fully went away. But she soon found a useful outlet for her grief and outrage. Armed only with a shoebox filled with the names of potential donors, Nancy put her formidable fund-raising talents to work and quickly discovered a groundswell of grassroots support. She was aided in her mission by the loving tutelage of her husband, restaurant magnate Norman Brinker, whose dynamic approach to entrepreneurship became Nancy’s model for running her foundation. Her account of how she and Norman met, fell in love, and managed to achieve the elusive “true marriage of equals” is one of the great grown-up love stories among recent memoirs.
Nancy’s mission to change the way the world talked about and treated breast cancer took on added urgency when she was herself diagnosed with the disease in 1984, a terrifying chapter in her life that she had long feared. Unlike her sister, Nancy survived and went on to make Susan G. Komen for the Cure into the most influential health charity in the country and arguably the world. A pioneering force in cause-related marketing, SGK turned the pink ribbon into a symbol of hope everywhere. Each year, millions of people worldwide take part in SGK Race for the Cure events. And thanks to the more than $1.5 billion spent by SGK for cutting-edge research and community programs, a breast cancer diagnosis today is no longer a death sentence. In fact, in the time since Suzy’s death, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer has risen from 74 percent to 98 percent.
Promise Me is a deeply moving story of family and sisterhood, the dramatic “30,000-foot view” of the democratization of a disease, and a soaring affirmative to the question: Can one person truly make a difference?
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| Customer Reviews:
Encouraging, inspirational and informational August 29, 2010
Pastor Dan (Wichita, KS)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
What an encouraging book. I know the book is about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure not for profit foundation and work, but it goes way beyond that.
The first thing that caught my attention was the solid family that Susan and Nancy were born into. The first section of the book while telling the story of Suzy and her battle with cancer also tells the story of a solid Jewish family that is committed to each other. I am encouraged by their family values, their family cohesiveness and the love and energy their parents put into being parents and training their children.
Suzy is like her father, fun loving, conservative, probably republican and dedicated to helping others and volunteering for anything and everything. She never met a person she couldn't become a friend to. Nancy is more like her mother, determined, driven, a democrat, cause oriented, fair minded, and willing to push the establishment, in a very good way.
Yet as Nancy describes, even though her parents were total opposites in personality and politics they loved each other and never fought over issues. They taught their girls to look at issues and make up their own mind as to what they thought and then to respect others for what they thought.
This training would take Nancy far when it came to the world of breast cancer awareness. She promises Suzy that she will fight to make breast cancer a thing of the past. But at the time of the promise no one, repeat no one wanted to talk about it, hear about it or publish anything in print about it. That was the early 1980's. We have come a long way since then.
Much of the book gives stories about survivor's of breast cancer. About volunteers who give their lives to the cause. About the love of one sister for another that drives Nancy to put together an organization that is amazing. From the beginning of having just $200 an some names of people to contact for support, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure has now raised and donated more than 1.5 billion towards breast cancer research, and it is paying off.
Another aspect of the book that I found amazing was the description and detail that Nancy gives about how her father, her mother, her time at Neman Marcus and eventually her husband, Norman Brinker, gave to her and education her about how to organize and run a business, not for the sake of the business but for the sake of people and the benefit it will bring them.
I was overwhelmed with the description of Norman Brinker and his management style that endeared him to his employees. Here was a man who worked hard and knew that his restaurant managers also worked hard. So, on New Years Eve when every restaurant would be open and doing brisk business, Norman would be at his desk in corporate headquarters and would individually call every one of the 400 managers to thank them for their hard work and to ask them about how their families were doing. His employees knew that he loved and care for them. What a great lesson.
Nancy came to the cause of breast cancer awareness because it cost her the life of her dearest friend, her sister Suzy. She watched the horrible treatments and how Suzy suffered. She was determined to find a cure, make a change, help other women.
In researching the need she found a statistic that floored me. During the Viet Nam War over 58,000 service men lost their lives (I felt the loss of 5 friends). During that same 10 year period of time 339,000 women in the U.S. died from breast cancer. Yet no one was talking about this silent killer. I didn't know that statistic. But I agree with Nancy, that was wrong. Something should have been said long ago. Even with all the research going on there are still some 30,000 to 40,000 women a year who will die from Breast Cancer. The work needs to continue.
You will be challenged by this great book. You will be given information that you won't be able to set aside and ignore. You will be challenged to make a response, will you contribute cash, become a volunteer organizer, join a research team or a Public Relations Advocate. After reading this book you won't be the same.
I plan to see that others read this book, get familiar with it and then make some informed decisions about their involvement.
Oh, and one last thing. The love story between Norman & Nancy Brinker is worth the price of the book. Two people who found each other, fell in love and pushed each other to great heights in their different business and all the time falling deeply in love with each other. They were made for each other.
God was gracious to bring them together, because Nancy was going to need Normans support throughout this whole adventure to make it happen. He was always there with the right words of advice, the display of management that was needed and the loving family time that allowed them to wind down and relax after a hard day of work.
Well, I have said a lot. There is so much more to say, so instead of me rewriting the book here, pick up a copy and read it. You will not be sorry. If you have ever had someone die from Breast Cancer this book will help you with the grieving process.
If you presently have breast cancer, this book will prove motivational for you. You CAN SURVIVE, that's the point of the book. If you have a family member with Breast Cancer you will learn what your supporting role is and what to expect.
You will learn about cutting edge treatments. You will learn about choices you have to make regarding treatment. Some get aggressive, some more conservative, which will you do?
Well, I have gone on and on. I enjoyed this book and feel like I was let into a bit of heaven to learn about Suzy and Nancy's family, then to learn about the driven volunteers for SGK and how they all pull together even in the tough times because they are all dedicated to stop the cancer and save women.
Please don't let the hype put you off from reading this book. Pick it up, jump into it and don't put it down till you're done. You will be a changed person and much more aware about breast cancer when you finish.
Enjoy this fascinating read.
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