Maureen Lafrenière

Launched in March 2011, this blog by Barbara Brenner, former executive director of Breast Cancer Action (based in San Francisco), more than lives up to its name, delivering the same critical thinking and unapologetic opinions that have advanced discussion and action on breast cancer over the last two decades.

Many BCAM members will recall Brenner’s critique of cause marketing and description of BCA’s smart, edgy “Think Before You Pink” campaign during her visit to Montreal in September 2004 to present BCAM’s first Lanie Melamed Memorial Lecture.

Brenner, now 59 and living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – a debilitating degenerative disease of the motor neurons – has much to say, offering reflections on an array of political and personal topics: The funding of drug research for diseases with small markets; access for all to medical treatments; the role of faith in coping with illness; her participation in a drug trial; and, her use of technology to overcome the loss of her speaking voice.

Readers respond, offer encouragement and participate in the discourse. In Barbara’s thirty or so posts, titles include: “Drug Development and Access: Time to Act Like Lives Depend on It,” “Health Activism: Not for the Faint of Heart,” “How do You Spell Chutzpah: Komen,” “Science by Press Release – Not Good News for Patients,” and “The Obligation of Privilege.” 

From the blogger’s self-introduction: “How I think about this illness (ALS) and how I react are influenced by my years as a breast cancer activist. How people deal with me now makes me think about how ­people deal with others who are ill.

“The purpose of this blog, Healthy Barbs, is to encourage people to learn to think in new ways about illness and health and to prompt them to be critical of the mainstream coverage of health issues.

Sources:
www.barbarabrenner.net.
www.bca.org.
Szabo, Liz. “Breast cancer activist Brenner struggles to preserve voice.” USA Today July 18, 2011.  <http://yourlife.usatoday.com> (Also linked on Healthy Barbs).