Cancer Research Ballot Measure Gets Nod at Patch Blogger Book Launch

A new California cancer research ballot measure got a plug over the weekend at a party to launch Healdsburg Patch blogger Juliane Cortino's new book,"Nothing Can Scare Me Now."

Cortino's book, subtitled "Managing Breast Cancer So It Doesn't Manage You," was in recognition of held and prior to Novato Relay for Lifein July.

Joan Haukom, one of several guest speakers at the book launch party Saturday, said if a June 2012 state ballot initiative is approved by voters, it would add a $1 tax to a pack of cigarettes to fund cancer research, tobacco use prevention and smoking cessation programs, she said.

Haukom, a spokesperson for the Redwood Empire Region of the American Cancer Society, said the California Cancer Research Act would generate nearly $600 million a year to support research to fight cancer, lung and heart disease.

"A nine-member oversight committee of cancer center directors, University of California chancellors and representatives of disease advocacy organizations will award all funds," according to a CCRA flyer.

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Novato City Councilwoma Pat Eklund, another guest speaker, offered encouragement to the crowd of about 50 in recounting her own long-term participation in Relay for Life, a main fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

"You can master the 'big C'," Eklund said.

Cortino, who lives in Novato and whose excepts also ran in Novato Patch, read a book excerpt at the party, held at the elegant Keys Room of Homeward Bound, an award-winning program for formerly homeless people in Novato.

Her book is based on a collection of blog posts she made after being diagnosed with invasive ductile carcinoma, a form of breast cancer, in 2009.

Cortino said she could find little in the literature that told her of the day-by-day experience one person has in undergoing surgery and treatment. So she started listening, reading and blogging.

"The truth was," Cortino told the audience, "I was terrified at every step."

 Kathy Leong, Cortino's long-time friend, said the blog posts allowed Leong to share Cortino's experience.

"It really helped me understand what she was going through," Leong told the audience.

"She's become a member of a sisterhood she'd never aspired to join," says the back cover of Cortino's book. 

Cortino, who blogged nearly daily during her surgery and treatment, lost her mother to pancreatic cancer shortly after being declared cancer-free.

"Nothing Can Scare Me Now, Managing Breast Cancer So It Doesn't Manage You" can be purchased on Amazon. Click here.

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