No shrinking violet: Rose Kushner and the rise of American breast cancer activism.

Abstract

When 45-year-old Maryland journalist Rose Kushner felt an “elevation” in her left breast in 1974, she immediately began to research the topic of breast cancer. What most surprised her was that physicians continued to use a dramatic operation, the radical mastectomy, to treat most cases of the disease. Even worse, Kushner believed, was the routine use of the “1-step” procedure in which surgeons, having obtained a biopsy specimen mid-operation that proved positive for cancer, then performed immediate radical breast removal on the anesthetized woman. By 1975, 1 year after being diagnosed, Kushner had become America's most prominent breast cancer activist. Modern breast cancer organizations have achieved remarkable success in publicizing the disease and raising funds. Revisiting Kushner's history illuminates the choices these groups have made and underscores the ongoing challenges they face.