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Not Looking Back - life after cancer Excerpt from Voices,
Good Living, October 22, 1998.
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When listening to Elizabeth "Betsy" Mullen talk about her life "B.C." - "before cancer" - one notices two things immediately. First, Mullen does not live in the past. Everything in her life and career is not about what could have happened, but what still needs to be accomplished. Second, to hear Mullen explain it, her past and the future are intertwined. After Mullen was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, she decided to work through it and vowed to make certain that other women in her situation would have better access to information and resources than she had. Women she hadn't met. And might never meet. "I thought, 'if I'm going to do breast cancer, I'm going to di it to the best of my ability.' " said Mullen who was 33 when she received her diagnosis and underwent a mastectomy six years ago. " 'I'm going to take care of myself and learn as much about this as possible.' " There was a life she left behind, including a successful career as a market research analyst for the sporting goods industry. She and husband Ken Mullen, an executive chef for a San Diego resort, whom she calls "my soul mate," now have precious little time together. The Mullens have no children; the "cause" is their family. Mullen lives in San Diego, but the clearinghouse organization she founded, Women's Information Network (WIN) Against Breast Cancer, is based in Covina. Through the WIN program, she created the organization's Breast Buddy program, a support system through which former cancer patients are paired up with newly diagnosed patients. She has spent a large part of the past three years in Washington D.C., lobbying for legislative attention to the disease, and for approval of the country's first "semi-postal" stamp - one that is sold at an added cost to raise money for breast cancer research. The stamp, which sells for 40 cents, costs 8 cents more than a first-class letter stamp. It went on sale in July. Mullen has been honored numerous times for her work on behalf of breast cancer. When the stamp was issued, she was a featured speaker both at the state capitol and at the White House, where she preceded First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the podium. Looking back as she looks forward, Mullen says she wouldn't change a thing. Not even her diagnosis. "Believe it or not, breast cancer is probably the best thing that had ever happened to me - which sounds sort of twisted." Mullen said. "But I think if I could go back in time and undo the fact that I had breast cancer, I would refuse that option because I really have meaning in my life now." WIN Against Breast Cancer On a Thursday in mid-October, Jane Fisher's Covina home is relatively quiet. When her daughter Mullen is visiting, though, calm is not the norm. The night before, after a 15-hour day, Mullen arrived in the middle of the night and dragged her mother out of bed to help tend to some kittens found at a nearby school; animal rescue is another of Mullen's causes. Mullen started WIN Against Breast Cancer in a spare room of her mother's house in 1994. WIN now has offices in Covina, but when she's in town, Mullen often stays with her mother. Fisher jokes with a visitor about Mullen's multiple telephone lines and 24-hour agenda. She's glad to see her when she visits, but also is relieved when Mullen leaves. There clearly is a deep bond between this mother and daughter. Both are wearing a colorful lapel pin with the image of the breast cancer stamp. And Mullen - who once dressed up as a UNICEF box for Halloween - says her advocacy and political tenacity came through the blood lines. She greatly admires her mother and the respect is mutual. "She is both my inspiration and my strength," Fisher says. "...And the bane of her existence," Mullen adds. Self-deprecating remarks are also common for Mullen, who doesn't seem to like the attention - and celebrity - that comes with the life she has found. Mullen talks openly about her experiences, and says, "I have no humility left." She says she hates the way she looks in photographs, but will readily share even those she considers most embarrassing. And laugh at them. One would think by now the spotlight would be easy to handle, after all the honors and attention she's had for WIN and her other work on behalf of breast cancer research. Not to mention speaking at the White House. Yet Mullen seems indifferent to the accolades. She is proud of WIN's achievements, but quick to credit the "unsung heroes" of the organization, particularly Shelly Blechman, WIN's executive director. Mullen is more focused on the challenges ahead. She has mobilized the Breast Buddies in response to Gov. Wilson's veto of AB 2592, legislation that would have set up a treatment fund for breast cancer under the state department of health services. One of WIN's goals is to get appropriate treatment to indigent communities, so mullen said Wilson's veto was "appalling." She is working to keep the issue alive in the current gubernatorial race. "She bumps up against walls and may get knocked over by them temporarily," said Dr. Jan Takasugi, who has helped Mullen's Breast Buddy program get established at Kaiser Permanente in West Los Angeles. "But she just gets up again and keeps running. She's very resilient." During the lobbying effort to get legislation for the stamp, Sacramento surgeon Ernie Bodai got the bulk of the media attention. Mullen worked just as hard, but stayed in the background. She didn't want the stamp to have any problems in its path to approval. "Surviving breast cancer was easy," Mullen said. "Surviving the politics may be the death of me yet. "When all is said and done, I was a scared patient on a gurney waiting for a mastectomy," she said. "I was alone in pre-op for six hours knowing I was going to lose my breast. "I just want to make it better for other patients. That's where I'm coming from."
Last Updated: 02/12/2003 |
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