LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press
NEW YORK – In 1976, as a 24-year-old grad student, Samira Beckwith was diagnosed with the thing people still whispered about: cancer.
She was in and out of the hospital, had five surgeries and endured round after round of chemotherapy and radiation as she battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Beyond a few professors and close friends, she didn’t routinely tell people of her bleak diagnosis as she focused on staying alive.
Years later, as she was about to turn 50, disaster struck again. This time it was breast cancer and a double mastectomy. Her desire for a bit of privacy was the same, but society and sickness had become a share-all whirl.
“Back the first time around, people didn’t want to hear or talk about cancer. But the boundaries changed, and the second time it was breast cancer. People really like to talk about breast cancer,” said Beckwith, now 59 and clinical director of a health care services company in Fort Myers, Fla.