As Leroy Sievers says, "Most of you know me as someone with cancer. Google my name -- and yes, I confess, I've done that -- more often than not, it comes up linked to one other word: cancer. But what about all the other things I've been?"

Sievers has been a journalist for most of his adult life. He's also been a baker, a short-order cook, a teacher, and an aspiring author. Yet cancer is the word most often used to describe this man.

But maybe not for long.

Could it be that Sievers -- a man whose life has been derailed by a deadly cancer traveling throughout his body, a man who has been contemplating death with each passing day -- may soon be rid of cancer altogether?

Actually, Sievers already sees glimpses of cancer falling to the wayside.

Having undergone a new procedure called Radio Frequency Ablation -- where needles are stuck into tumors, burning them away from the inside out -- Sievers sees a brighter future. He's seen his latest scans. He's seen the black holes where tumors once lived. He's seen that no new tumors have appeared. He's seen that he may actually survive cancer.

Months ago, this man, who blogs his cancer journey for NPR, was told he would likely not survive the year. Now he realized he may outlive this prediction. And while this is great news, Sievers finds himself a bit unsure about a life without cancer.

"Will I be somebody who used to have cancer?" he says. "I think most cancer patients don't ever think it's really gone. It's just hiding, waiting to jump out and scare us when we least expect it. Will I be able to resume my old life? To rebuild my battered body into what it was before? I don't know. But I know this disease has changed me dramatically in so many ways. I am a different person. Hopefully a better person. You cannot go through an ordeal like this and not be profoundly affected."

Now that's what a call a fresh perspective.

To read previously-written posts about Leroy Sievers, click here.

While it is true that women are far outnumbered in high level management positions in top 500 fortune companies, it is the backbone of the women in this country that lead the fund raising efforts in non profits. Women last year accounted for one out of 13 clout positions as an executive vice president or higher in the 500 largest U.S. companies. This figure was up from one in 40 as recently as 1995. Back then only one of those companies had a female chief executive officer and today seven do.

Women account for a higher percentage of executive positions in larger, self staffed non profit organizations. In 2005, the Non-Profit Times' "Power & Influence Top 50" list named the 50 top senior level executives in the non-profit sector and 26 were women. The role of women in non profit organizations was alive and well long before the concept came to exist. In the United States, the non profit sector encompasses an enormous range of organizations engaged in education, health care, research, the arts, religion, the environment, civil rights, and human services. The historical role of women in these sectors has always been significant and has evolved as the resources of the nonprofit sector have expanded and become formalized.

Women affirm their belief in humanity by providing services to millions of people every year, day in and day out. Many of the executive directors, board members, staff, and volunteers of these human services organizations are women, and they provide the backbone support for our community services.

As the major season for fund raising kicks off to bring in funds for cancer research and awareness, my many applauds to the multitudes of women, and also the men, who take their efforts seriously and have a strong commitment to community and a better quality of life to us all.

Angelina Jolie, who told CNN host Larry King on December 18 that her 56-year-old mother was battling ovarian cancer, is now confirming that her mother passed away on Saturday afternoon.

According to a new release, Angelina Jolie and brother James Haven were with their mom, actress Marcheline Bertrand, when she died this weekend at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. It is reported that Jolie's boyfriend, Brad Pitt, was at the hospital with Jolie and her brother.

Bertrand, divorced from Jolie's Oscar-winning actor father Jon Voight and primary caretaker of her children, had small roles in the movies Lookin' to Get Out in 1982 and The Man Who Loved Women in 1983.

A private funeral is planned -- and the family asks that donations be made to the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

I think it's safe to say that a large amount of women in this world lack self confidence. Tack on a few incisions and scars, some lop-sided or altogether missing breasts, a handful of scattered blue tattoos, a head full of newly sprouting hair, swelling arms, drug-damaged fingernails and toenails, damaged veins, alien-like ports protruding from underneath skin, unpredictable hot flashes, and a foggy brain and it's clear that women surviving breast cancer may have a few of their own issues concerning self confidence. It doesn't take science to prove this reality -- although there are studies out there that do confirm and validate that breast cancer survivors struggle with positive self images.

Results of a study released Wednesday reveal that the vast majority of breast cancer patients in Taiwan lose self confidence after having their breasts removed. The study shows that 90 percent of participants feel they have lost their beauty and femininity following a mastectomy. Women worry about their partner's perception of them after such radical appearance changes. They doubt their roles in their workplace and families. They are even afraid of having sex with their partners. And if the patients' relationship with their spouses are not good in the first place, breast removal surgery will lead to divorce about 10 percent of the time.

There is no doubt that female roles vary from country to country -- and what studies show in Taiwan may not be completely applicable to women in the United States. But there is one universal truth that knows no boundaries -- all women recovering from the ravages of breast cancer will encounter struggles. Because breast cancer does not discriminate when it comes to compromising the self esteem of its targets.

Before I even get started, here is a sampling of the news headlines that are appearing in relation to a study indicating mothers who work outside the home are in better health than stay-at-home mothers. Working mothers less likely to become obese -- Working moms healthier than full-time homemakers -- Mothers who work enjoy better health -- Working Moms -- Healthier and thinner.

According to researchers who analyzed data from a study that tracked the health of women born in 1946 -- women who were employed outside the home were less likely than stay-at-home mothers and single mothers to report poor health or to be obese in middle age. Obesity is a known lifestyle factor contributing to a greater risk for a number of cancers. However, Dr Anne McMunn, of the University College in London, takes obesity into a debatable realm when she states that it has been known for some time that women who combine employment with motherhood and partnership have better health.