An artist recently discovered that her painting was voted on by other members of the art collective where she and her wife rent a studio. Her portrait of a breast cancer survivor was deemed by the other artists not to be "family friendly." Rhon's portrait is featured here.

As you will note, there is nothing lewd or pornographic about this portrait. The art show in Dallas, Texas, from which the portrait was removed featured other nudes. It is unfortunate that this portrait was removed.

I don't know all of the details, the focus of the show, nor the temperaments of all of the artists involved. I hope there were other reasons than the fear that parents might be afraid to show their children alternative views of the world, views of the world that might be frightening, but might also spark conversations about reality, about family members and friends, about prevention, and about compassion.

What do you think? Would this portrait offend you?

Debra LaChance, a breast cancer survivor, has a love for books and a desire to help others affected by cancer or chronic illness. She has started a project of collecting inspirational stories from survivors, and plans to publish the stories in a collection of healing books. The Healing Project is currently seeking stories from and about people dealing with cancer and life-changing illnesses for a series of anthologies to be published later this year.

When LaChance, a successful businesswoman, was diagnosed with breast cancer, she said, "I would forever be tagged as someone who had cancer. It is a strange feeling and at first blush, a really lonely place to be. I knew my friends and family would care, but would anyone else? It would not take long to find that answer - and in learning of the infinite capacity of others to give of themselves."

The Healing Project is LaChance's way of helping those who have helped heal not just her disease for now, but her soul forever. If you are a cancer survivor and have a personal story that you would like included in the collection of healing books, contact The Healing Project for details. Writers will be paid, but it does not specify, at this time, the amount of payment. Professional writers are welcome to the project. If you are not a professional writer and need help writing your story, writers are available to assist you. The Healing Project is looking for real stories by real survivors.

Uplink Birdies for Breast Cancer Charity is a golf classic hosted by Cristie Kerr, one of the golfing world's premiere female athletes. Kerr has made a pledge to donate $50 dollars for every birdie she makes in a season, and to date, she has made 299 birdies. In addition, pledges can be made by individuals and corporations for each birdie Kerr makes in a season.

Kerr's mother is a breast cancer survivor. On behalf of her mother, and all women, Kerr is determined to win the battle against breast cancer with the same determination and drive she applies to the competitive sport of golf. The Uplink Birdies for Breast Cancer Charity golf classic is a day of golfing fun and breast cancer fundraising. All donations from the events and birdie pledges goes to support Evelyn Lauder's The Breast Cancer Research Foundation programs and the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute. You can make a pledge on the Uplink Birdies for Breast Cancer Charity website, learn more about the golf classic, and shop the Birdie's store for merchandise. 100 percent of profits goes to charity.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was drawn to nature. During the year of surgeries, chemotherapy and treatment, the time I spent with nature had a profoundly calming and centering affect on my health and well-being. I wrote in my journal:

Connecting to the cycles and seasons of nature, to the rhythm and cadence of life in the ebb and flow of birth, death and renewal, it is easy to find my way from feeling lost to remembering the magic, meaning and purpose of being here, of being alive. To taste time that does not go too fast or too slow but is eternally measured in the spaces of now; this is where the convergence of the physical and spiritual worlds meet most directly and I find myself standing in the middle, with an awareness that any separation was only a misunderstanding on my part.

It is a green medicine. Casting for Recovery offers free fly-fishing weekend retreats for breast cancer survivors, allowing women an opportunity to reconnect with time and life in a natural setting. Fisher people know, it is not so much about the fish - the call of fishing is about stepping out of the time you are in to a time more in tune with the inner rhythm of being. The Casting for Recovery retreats offer a forum for women with similar experiences to meet, learn fly-fishing skills and gain a respite from their everyday concerns.

In February 2004, Amy Micks, a breast cancer survivor, climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro as a personal challenge. It was on the summit her idea for Up Kili was born, as a way to share with other breast cancer survivors, the incredible experience of getting to the summit of the mountain.

On February 21, 2006, Micks will take 30 breast cancer survivors and their friends to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for breast cancer research. Joining Micks on the climb will be Diane Brooks, who lost her aunt and sister to breast cancer; Deryl Empson, husband to Mary Ann; Mary Ann Empson, eight-year survivor; Joanna Chrystal, survivor, will be joined by her daughter Haley; Haley Higdon; John Karagossian; Maria Parusis, whose mother is a survivor; Karen Panzer, survivor; Kathy Ng, four-year survivor; Maggie Loney who lost two sisters to cancer; Marjorie Ramsden, four-year survivor; Tara Dodson, whose aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer; Pamela Jackson, three-year survivor; Pauline Auty, seven-year survivor; Trudie Hynes, whose mother is a seven-year survivor; Shoshana Burgett, diagnosed with breast cancer last year; Valerie Kraus, 10-year survivor; Michael Henry; Sylvia Rak, whose friend is a survivor; Gwen Frankland, 29-year survivor; Alison Curtis, three-year survivor; Deb Wallace, who joins her friend Alison on the climb; Kata Vucovic, 27-year survivor; Cathy Tsilfidis who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and Luc Sabourin, who will be joining Cathy on the climb; and Sue Scharf-Green whose joins friend Karen Panzer on the climb. Eddie Frank, husband of Amy Micks, and Matt Dodson will lead the climb.

On March 2nd, they will reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. A symbolic endeavor of spirit as magnificent as the mountain, of 30 who are surviving breast cancer to conquer a mountain.

If you are a breast cancer survivor, who has completed treatment for breast cancer, your best bet for follow-up care may be with your family physician. In what is being called a landmark study, researchers followed 968 women, half of whom received follow-up care from a family physician. The other half of the women in the study continued to visit a cancer oncologist. Of the women who were cared for by a family physician, 11.2 percent had a breast cancer recurrence, and 29 women died. Of the women who were cared for by an oncologist, 13.2 percent had a breast cancer recurrence, and 30 women died.

As a breast cancer survivor, I choose to see my family physician for follow-up care. A visit to the family physician is not psychologically weighted with a sense of impending doom I inevitably feel when I walk into an oncologist's office. It is a personal choice, but for women who do make the choice to visit the family physician for follow-up care, this study is reassuring that nothing is being compromised in quality of care.

Mary Blocksma, freelance writer, artist and breast cancer survivor blogs Mary's Breast Cancer Blog as a way to feel, vent, connect, share information and celebrate life with other women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Blocksma currently runs a gallery that displays her paintings, notecards, posters, books and jewelry, and her blog features some of her art and writing. She uses art and writing as a healing therapy in days filled with the surprises and unexpected challenges that come with being a breast cancer survivor. As a breast cancer survivor, she blogs to inspire, to keep hoping and creating and living.

Keli's father is a brain cancer survivor. Brain cancer took away her father's freedom to get around because he isn't able to drive and it has taken away much of their time together because he ends up living where he works, due to that lack of freedom. Cancer makes Keli angry. In middle school, she shaved her head and donated her locks of hair to Wigs for Kids. Since her father's brain cancer diagnosis, cancer has taken away many friends and family. Now her close school friend, Kiersen, has a mother who is battling breast cancer.

Cancer keeps making Keli angry. Yesterday, she decided it was time to shave her head again, this time as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Keli asked that a dollar donation be made, for each of the six inches of hair shaved from her head. Like her mother Keri, who runs each day for someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, raising money for Relay for Life as she runs, when cancer makes you angry, you do something about it. You do what you can. Keri runs. Keli donates her hair for wigs. Cancer can make us angry, but it does not have the power to defeat us, as Keli and Keri prove in exponential acts of giving.

Illuminade is a blogging reflection of a life turned upside down by breast cancer. With the love and support of family, she travels the breast cancer survival journey blogging the positive, the good, the hopeful moments - the mostly pleasant and life-affirming moments - she encounters along the way. Illuminade points her readers to the story of Abigail "Nabby" Adams, daughter of United States president John Adams. In 1811, when Nabby Adams was 42 years old, she discovered a lump in her breast. The essay of her breast cancer experience, two hundred years ago, the medical treatments available, and what Nabby had to endure, is chilling.