"Young women need to know the importance of advocating for their own health care," said Beth Murphy, who spent two years producing and directing the film that will air at 7 p.m. Oct. 10. The documentary is one of a number of special programs to air in October as part of the network's public awareness campaign titled "Our Lifetime Commitment: Stop Breast Cancer for Life."
Murphy said the women she interviewed were told they were too young to have breast cancer. In many cases, they were sent away for three months, six months, even a year before they were eventually diagnosed, Murphy said in a telephone interview from her office in Plymouth, Mass. Hosted by Melissa Joan Hart, the one-hour program examines the challenges that face young breast cancer patients -- high mortality rates, fertility issues, chemotherapy-induced menopause and psychosocial issues involving dating, families and motherhood.
Some 250,000 American women 40 and younger are living with breast cancer and another 10,000 will be diagnosed this year. "It can be very isolating to be a young woman with breast cancer," Cynthia Rubin, president of the Young Survival Coalition, tells Murphy in the documentary. The Young Survival Coalition was founded in 1998 by Roberta Levy-Schwartz, Joy Simha and Lanita Hausman to address concerns unique to young women with breast cancer. The three are interviewed in the documentary, which was filmed in cooperation with the coalition. "When you look at the personalities of the three women, it really exemplifies the spirit of the entire group," Murphy said. "These are strong, highly motivated women who wanted to make a difference." The Young Survival Coalition is a source of information about breast cancer and an advocate for more research on the causes of the disease, fertility issues and whether pregnancy can trigger a re-occurrence. Medical professionals and researchers also are interviewed in the documentary, but the heart and soul of the film are the young women whose stories inspire courage and admiration.
Days after celebrating her second wedding anniversary, Kelly Douglas , 24, was diagnosed with breast cancer. "It's easier to hear you have breast cancer than telling your spouse or telling anyone you love," Douglas said in the film. Murphy said in the telephone interview that many young women feel guilty -- "that was something I heard time and time again" -- because of the effect the illness has on the spouse. Murphy said Kelly and her husband, Mark, have an incredibly strong, faith-based love that sustains their relationship. Murphy said the women also face great frustrations, especially when breast cancer re-occurs. Tracy Hill was 32 when she detected a lump in her breast while breast-feeding her son. Six months passed before she was diagnosed. "It's so frustrating to be ignored," Hill said. After being in remission for 10 months, Hill's cancer returned. "It was hard for her to tell her friends," Murphy said, "because everyone was in the getting-on mode. She didn't want to get back into that realm where she felt that people were feeling sorry for her." Murphy also focused on a mother and daughter diagnosed with breast cancer. Theresa Muccilo was 48 when her cancer was found while it was a dot on a mammogram. By the time her daughter, Lisa, 27, was diagnosed, her cancer had metastasized through her body. Murphy, who developed close friendships with the women featured, said she saw Lisa Muccilo when members of the Young Survival Coalition met recently with President Bush in the White House.
In the documentary, Lisa had "beautiful long dark hair. She has since lost all her hair, her eyebrows, her eyelashes. She is a year younger than I am," Murphy said. "It absolutely breaks your heart to have such good people facing something that is so bad." Murphy, founder and president of Principle Pictures, also wrote a companion book, titled "Fighting for Our Future: How Young Women Find Strength, Hope and Courage While Taking Control of Breast Cancer" (McGraw-Hill, $21.95). It should be in bookstores Tuesday. Despite the seriousness of the issue, the tenor of the documentary is one of hope. Juanita Lyle was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32. The prognosis was that she would not live another 10 years. She is shown in the documentary at her 58th birthday party. Lyle survived the first onslaught of the disease and three re-occurrences. "My deepest hope," Murphy said, "is that this documentary begins to inspire a climate where women can partner with their doctors to effect a change and to start to close some of the gaps in research that exist."
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