Christine Sansone was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 at the age of twenty-five. She passed away a few days ago after battling bone metastasis for eight years. She recently had leg surgery and never recovered. I met Christine a few times at the Young Survival Conference held by LBBC and the YSC.

Christine was featured in The Beautiful Eight -- An educational video for women living with metastatic disease.

She was recently quoted in the March/April issue of MAMM magazine.

"Living longer and stronger - Women with metastatic breast cancer are bringing new hope and energy to their cause." -- Christine Sansone.

Christine's story..

Oakland Athletics center fielder Nick Swisher appeared at Saturday evening's pregame event wearing three ponytails. Prepared to donate his locks to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths non-profit campaign, Swisher said just before his ponytails were snipped, "I feel like Pippi Longstocking. I look so goofy right now. But if I can make a difference in one or two women's lives, it's worth it."

Swisher's father -- major league baseball player Steve Swisher -- did the cutting honors. And it was fitting the two men were in on this endeavor together because Swisher's grandmother -- his dad's mother -- died from brain cancer two years ago.

"The initial idea was out of respect for my mom -- but the second thing is: It's time for a haircut,'' Steve Swisher said. "I'm so proud of Nick. He's bringing attention to a good cause and that's what it's all about.''

Pantene creates free wigs for women dealing with hair loss from cancer treatment.

Soap opera actress Darlene Conley, best known for playing Sally Spectra for the past 20 years on The Bold and the Beautiful, lost her battle with cancer over the weekend. She was 72.

Conley, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer just three months ago, also played characters on Days of our Lives and General Hospital -- and many knew her as black market baby broker Rose DeVille onThe Young and the Restless.

Before embarking on a daytime career, Conley made appearances in movies The Birds and Valley of the Dolls and on television shows such as Murder, She Wrote, Cagney & Lacey, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

I've had the little book, with its glossy plaid cover, ever since it was released in 1991. I was 21 years old and already a fan of well-crafted, powerful words. So it was no surprise I picked up Life's Little Instruction Book: 511 suggestions, observations, and reminders on how to live a happy and rewarding life. And it's no surprise I have kept it with me for all these years, allowing it a lifetime membership on my bookshelf, where I can swiftly pluck it from its spot when I need a little inspiration.

Now in a worn, faded, and tattered state, this book is still one of my favorites. Its words are timeless, its messages are meaningful -- even more so now that I am 36 years ago. Now a college graduate, a one-time working professional, a wife, a mom, a writer, and a breast cancer survivor, the reflections printed in this book speak to me more clearly than ever before.

Here are seven of my current favorites from Life's Little Instruction Book -- written by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. for his college-bound son at a time when he had no idea the road map he provided for his child would come to serve so many others.

• Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it's just a daisy in a jelly glass.

• Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

• Choose work that is in harmony with your values.

• Don't be intimidated by doctors and nurses. Even when you're in the hospital, it's still your body.

• Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

• Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.

• Keep it simple.
  

Adriene Hughes was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her 44th year of living. She found her lump after participating in a 5K walk, which for some reason, caused her breast to swell. The swelling led her to the lump -- and that's how she discovered her cancer. Adriene lives in Southern California, works as a media specialist, and spends her time taking photographs, knitting, and baking cookies and breads.

I have never met Adriene, have never spoken with Adriene. But we have communicated through our on-line journals and through e-mail ever since November 2004 -- when we each received a breast cancer diagnosis that changed the course of our lives forever.

Adriene is a gem, a treasure, a true inspiration. And here are her words.

Julia Fikse, founder of Ta-tas trademark brand clothing, who wants to do some good in the world, has built a company based on the philosophy that laughter heals. As Fikse states on the Ta-tas company website, "Our mission is to celebrate the varied beauty of women through playful expressive clothing and accessories. We believe all people are uniquely designed by God and should feel comfortable, valuable and beautiful as they are."

Some of the slogans screen printed on tees include: caught you looking at my ta-tas; ta-tas unite; and save the ta-tas. Fikse is living her goal of doing some good in the world as she donates five percent of every sale to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation in hopes of finding a breast cancer cure in our lifetime.

She is fun and funny, as you will learn as you browse through the Ta-tas website or read the Save the ta-tas thoughts on breast cancer blog. There are more than a few celebrities who think her line of clothing is fun and help promote the cause. A quick read-through finds Fran Drescher wearing caught you looking at my ta-tas tee to an Emmy SWAG party and making the front page of the LA Times Calendar because of the tee. Kate Beckinsale, Abigail Spencer, Haylie Duff, Daisy Fuentes and Jessica Alba have answered "where do you take your ta-tas" in photos published by Fikse.

Fikse asks for photo submissions of people wearing a ta-tas tee and is also open to design suggestions for future tees. Like I said, she is fun. Visit the website, read the blog, save the ta-tas.

Back in June, when Pamela Anderson stood nude in the window of fashion designer Stella McCartney's London clothes shop to bring attention to PETA, she was making a statement she would rather go nude than wear fur. Anderson chose to deliver that message in a way certain to be heard. It was an outrageous stunt but it worked -- and whether you tsk-tsk or applaud her effort, Pamela Anderson and PETA made headlines around the globe that day.

It worked for the global cosmetics company Avon in Bulgaria this week, when in a continuing effort to raise awareness for breast cancer, they launched an eye-catching public campaign using three well-known sexy celebrities of Bulgaria. Posing in a larger-than-life banner hung outside the National Art Gallery in Sofia, the three beauties stared back at passers-by with a suggestion that when the large pink ribbon covering the women in the banner in just the right places came down, the public would be in for a nude shock.

As it turns out, when the pink ribbon was pulled down, the bare-shouldered bare-legged smiling women in the poster -- television star Natalia Simeonova, pop diva Maria Ilieva and film actress Koyna Rousseva -- were holding up pink tees with a breast cancer message printed on them.

Will the public or the paparazzi ever tire of sexy or the hint of nudity or actual nudity? No -- and I am not suggesting they do. Only that this type of campaign risks becoming cliche. If I were head of a large organization with a goal to raise awareness in eye-popping ways, I would hire the brightest, most innovative and creative minds in the advertising world, and let them create something intelligent and fresh and new. But for now, Pamela Anderson and Avon know what works -- and they work it.

Diane Lane, award-winning actress, appeared on NBC's Today Show this morning and had her hair cut off on live television in the official launch of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign. At the same time, 50 women volunteers across the country are having eight inches of their hair cut in a hair donation that will go to making no-cost wigs for women who have lost their hair during chemotherapy cancer treatment.

The campaign is hoping to inspire women and men to make a gift of their healthy hair, cutting it to create wigs for women in need. In addition, Pantene will launch the program with a $1 million donation to the Women's Cancer Research Fund for cancer research.

"This simple act of cutting my hair is going to make a profound difference to a woman who is fighting to regain both her health and sense of self," Lane said. "My dream is that every woman who hears about Pantene Beautiful Lengths will become inspired to grow her hair and donate a natural resource that only she can give." You can watch pre-show outtakes of the broadcast, as well as the Hope Pass it On video at Pantene Beautiful Lengths website. For those that missed the early morning show, NBC has not posted any video coverage of Lane's appearance. Not yet anyway, I checked.

Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died Monday in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 52. Hunt Lieberson battled breast cancer in the recent past and had canceled performances in 2005 and 2006 due to back problems -- yet no one was prepared for her death, which occured at her home with her husband by her side. The music world is shocked by her passing. There were no obvious warning signs because Hunt Lieberson often kept her health matters private. No public announcement regarding cause of death has been released.

Known for her beautiful voice -- and a repertoire that ranged from Baroque to contemporary -- the singer, a native of the San Francisco Bay area, began her career as a violist and later became a recitalist, a concert singer, and an operatic performer. She was powerful and polished in her unconventional opera delivery, says Richard Gaddes, director of the Santa Fe opera. She could take her audiences to depths so intense and so true, and her level of commitment will be very difficult to match. She was in a class of her own.

Finding out you have cancer can be traumatic. Losing your hair when taking the treatments can be just as traumatic. I realized what men must feel like every day when they get older and their hair starts to thin, when I started combing my hair and having pieces of it coming out in clusters or waking up to find strands on my pillow. During my first round of cancer I let my hair fall out on its own until it got to a point, I knew I would look better bald with a baseball hat on.

The second time I went through cancer, I decided to take a bold approach and at the first sign of hair starting to come out, I got a friend to shave my head. It was my way of taking the traumatic experience into my own hands. We did it outside and let my hair blow off the back deck into the air where we hoped birds would recycle it into nests. Wearing a bandanna became my trademark.  I think I had one of every color in the rainbow and all designs given to me by friends showing their support. A few even opted to go bald that summer with me and one reminded me every day she walked into her walk-in cooler in her restaurant, how she thought of me when the chill hit her head. With a support group like that, the baldness did not bother me.

Dressed in my favorite navy patch print bandanna with a beautiful half moon and star pendant pinned in the center in the front of my forehead, (another gift from a friend), I looked more like a gypsy than a cancer patient. While shopping with my mother in a department store that day, a lady came up to me and announced that she had had a glorious ride on her motorcycle too and that the weather was great. I laughed inside at the thought that I was being recognized as a biker and not a cancer patient. Of course my mother stood with her mouth dropped and then whispered to me "the nerve of some people." I eased her by saying, "Mom I wished I was out on a motorcycle today enjoying the breeze blowing over my head."

My advice to anyone losing their hair when going through cancer treatments is to be bold and take it off yourself making it YOUR CHOICE and know that there are a lot of people with shaved heads and extremely short hair wearing baseball hats, bandannas, or just letting the sun hit the shiny surface. You won't stick out. In a lot of instances you may just fit in. Most of us were born bald and everyone thought we were beautiful then. Personally I think bald is beautiful. Besides your smile is what is going to stand out the most.

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." -- Mark Twain

According to several international news services and tabloid newspapers with an online presence, Elizabeth Taylor, legendary movie star and cancer survivor, is suffering heart failure and near death. Reported to be bedridden at her home in Bel Air, California, she is said to have cancelled her annual Easter party to plan her funeral. According to an unnamed friend, "Liz is inching closer to death every day and she knows it. It is not a pretty picture. She's not leaving a lot of money to her children. She wants the bulk of her fortune to go to AIDS research." I guess dying isn't enough of a news story, a publisher decided to add this scurrilous gossipy little comment from an anonymous friend on how her estate will be settled. Other than her attorneys and estate planners, I doubt few know the status of her will.

Her publicist, Dick Guttman, states that Taylor is not near death, and is instead, quite busy with her successful perfume and jewelry lines and the work she does for AIDS. "The endless health stories surrounding Taylor's supposed impending death," Guttman says, "have just become exasperating." Mark Twain predicted this one right. I cannot find any credible reports indicating that Guttman is playing smoke and mirrors with the public. All the reports of Taylor's impending death do seem to be coming from very specific, and perhaps slightly questionable, sources for news information. My vote for accuracy goes to Guttman. We send her our best wishes for continued good health.

Hollywood image makers tend to create one-dimensional figures of celebrity stars. It takes effort to break free from being a cardboard product to being a three-dimensional human being. Eva Longoria, best known for her role as sexy Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives, and more recently, for the Maxim magazine cover that can be seen from space, is both beauty and brains, and struggling with the media focus on issues that to her seem irrelevant. She would much rather speak about serious issues -- such as PADRES Contra El Cancer, parents against cancer, an organization committed to improving the quality of life for Latino children with cancer and their families -- than publicly talk about her personal sex life. Longoria is the PADRES spokeswoman.

In 1985, PADRES was created when two American Cancer Society research studies reported that culturally relevant educational and emotional support services for the Latino patient were missing in the medical community. While PADRES is oriented to the Latino community, and serving predominantly Spanish-speaking people living with cancer, childhood cancer patients from all races and ethnic origins are welcome. According to PADRES, the organization, located in Southern California, is the only Latino organization of its kind operating within the United States. To learn more about PADRES, go here.