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the arts The Art of Surviving W m n f f el the Itti Luuduri JUthori AIKXUIKW L i t e r a r y AirdtorNonf Kt«w This year 17,700 Canadian women will discover they have breast cancer. The death rate for this virulent disease has not changed significantly since the 1930s. This year, over 5,000 women in Canada will die from breast cancer. In British Columbia, over 600 women will die. PICASSO'S WOMAN A Breast C a n c e r Story by Gloria Loree Ov 'ver a year ago a friend of mine gave me a book aboul breast cancer. "The author is a Lion's Bay resident and so it would fit perfectly into your magazine." said my friend. Since I knew my friend was good buddies with the book's publicist. I had my suspicions. "Yeah. yeah. Is the book any good?" "Well, it is Rosalind MacPhee's first book--I think she writes some poetry--it's about her personal journey..." "Un huh." "It's powerful. Just read it." said my friend who always knows better. I read Picasso's Woman over a two-day period. Rosalind MacPhee, the sometimes poet, full-time paramedic, mother, wife and friend turned out to be a hell of a storyteller. And her story of breast cancer, both her personal experience and the big picture of how many die and suffer, and how a relatively small amount of money goes into research for this lethal disease, floored me. I decided to write a feature in Arts Alive on the book and MacPhee. I envisioned a review of this inspiring story of a woman who beats breast cancer and perhaps a short postscript written by the author, letting people know what, if any. advances had been made in the areas of research and treatment. That's not the kind of story I can run now. The following letter from Judy Caldwell. Founder and President of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. B.C. Chapter, explains. Dear Gloria, You've asked me aboul Rosalind MacPhee's health and how she's holding up. Physically her breast cancer has metastasized to her lungs and beyond. Mentally. Rosalind is living at Hvel) and controlling the direction of her life. She laughs, she loves, she writes and she perseveres. Life is still a meet adventure for her. And. surprise. Picasso's Woman has just been translated into Hebrew in Israel. With all the other languages. I wonder why it isn 't in French yet? Just six month ago Rosalind was tanned and healthy looking even though she was undergoing radiation for pain. Now she says that she doesn 'I recognize herself in the mirror and she and I need to adjust to a new and constantly changing Rosalind. She's lost her huge voice and finds it isolating and a real handicap. Tumors were pressing on her vocal chords and we hope that the chemo will shrink them enough that she can speak in her own voice once again. This woman has guts. She refuses wigs or hats to hide her baldness. The drugs have puffed up her face and swollen her body yet she insists that the total story of the disease be told and seen and that not only includes the women who survive hut also the thousands upon thousands each year who are taken down by breast cancer. So, no hiding, no prostheses, no wigs, no scanes or hats--unless it's brutally cold. She's a missionary, not a masochist! I don't think Rosalind fears dying. She tells me not living fully is something to fear more than an early death Hit family and friends are her Since being published in Canada in 1994, Picasso's Woman has been published in the following countries: Germany Norway China (translated) Israel (translated) United States Philippines Islands Japan In 1995, Rosalind MacPhee won the CanadianAuthors Association Literary Award for non-fiction. Rosalind MacPhee