"I couldn't believe it. The doctors must have made a mistake." "I thought it meant I was going to die." "Crazy as it sounds, chemo scared me more than losing my breast." "I was terrified. I felt totally alone. As if nothing and nobody could help me."

    If you've been diagnosed with breast cancer, you are not alone.

    Women haven't been completely alone, really, for many years now. There have been outreach services for cancer patients, a widespread effort to increase awareness - even special programs for mastectomy patients.

    But that's not enough.

    A woman with breast cancer is a woman in crisis.

    Here to respond to that crisis is Breast Buddies, a program designed as a one-on-one personal guided tour down the rocky path of breast cancer. Breast Buddies, founded by Betsy Mullen, president and CEO of WIN Against Breast Cancer, helps cancer patients cope with their crisis of cancer.

    This is a program of women helping women. Cancer survivors helping cancer patients.

    Sheila Crigler and Lynda Halsey are two such women. There was no support program when they were diagnosed; no buddy to help them through the ordeal of testing, treatment and surgery.

    Perhaps that, more than any other reason, is why they do what they do.

    Who are these women? What do they do? What can they do for you?

    Once a woman is diagnosed, she is matched up with a Buddy, a volunteer. Volunteers like Sheila and Lynda make themselves available to breast cancer patients 24 hours a day. They are there to walk you through second opinions, treatment, surgery and follow-up. They are there to talk you through your fears.

    "The beauty of volunteers being survivors," says Crigler, "is that our patients look at us and think, "This person knows. She's walked this storm.'"

    Breast Buddies will comfort a patient's family, be a force to reckon with at a doctor's office, or accompany patients to the City of Hope for treatment. They talk, they listen, they try to help patients laugh.

    Lynda Halsey holds luncheons where her "ladies" can laugh and cry together. "They share chemo stories. They give each other hope.

    "With us," says Crigler, "these women know it's okay to cry. It's okay to be angry, hurt, frightened. It's okay."

    Both women are advocates. Sheila fought for sensitivity training for male doctors. Lynda wrote a proposal and won a $10,000 grant from her employer, the Mattel Corporation.

    Kaiser Permanente, the first area hospital to adopt the Breast Buddies Program, is paving the way to total comprehensive services for breast cancer patients. With an in-house support program such as Breast Buddies, no woman falls through the cracks of imperfect referral. Hopefully, other hospitals will soon follow suit.

    In the meantime, Betsy Mullen urges women to be vigilant. "Get mammograms, do a regular breast self-exam. And don't leave everything to your doctor. Take your life into your own hands." 

    For those women who may one day hear, "I'm sorry, but you have breast cancer," learn from the volunteers at Breast Buddies.

    "Don't write yourself off," says Lynda Halsey.

    Be a Survivor-not a victim.

TO CONTACT

    Breast Buddies: (818) 332-2255

    The California Breast Cancer Treatment Fund Program: (Desert Sierra Regional Partnership, Riverside) Angela Fox, (909) 697-6565

    American Cancer Society: 1-800- ACS-2345.

PROGRESS AGAINST BREAST CANCER

    Cure Breast Cancer Stamp: Breast Buddies founder Betsy Mullen joined a crusade initiated by Dr. Ernie Bodai of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California for a voluntary 33¢ stamp, with the extra penny going to breast cancer research. The stamp act was signed last August by President Clinton.

    Drive for the Cure: To further breast cancer research and build awareness of the disease that afflicts one in nine American women, BMW of North America has teamed up with, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and will contribute $1 for every mile test driven at special events hosted by BMW Retail Centers until November 1997. Contributions will be made by BMW on behalf of each test driver, anti will result in a gift of $1 million being made to the Susan C. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.