Marisa Acocella Marchetto is a self-proclaimed "shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, single-forever, about-to-get-married big-city girl cartoonist with a fabulous life." Until she receives a breast cancer diagnosis and her world is turned upside down. But with grace and style and a bit of wild spunk, Marchetto takes on 11 months of treatment -- often attending chemotherapy appointments in rainbow pumps -- and she emerges victorious. This fun-loving Manhattan girl is no cancer victim -- she is a cancer vixen.

Cancer Vixen: A True Story is Marchetto's story -- a powerful comic-book memoir of one woman, a cartoonist for The New Yorker and Glamour, who at the age of 43 encounters the dreaded depths of breast cancer. A woman who cartoons her way through personal crisis. A woman who marries her prince charming. A woman who is now living happily ever after.

Evelyn H. Lauder, Founder and Chairman of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, says "Marisa's willingness to share her experiences in such an honest, personal way is an incredible inspiration -- whether you have experienced breast cancer or love someone who has endured its many challenges."

Cancer Vixen is a must read. And for a must-see teaser that will keep you wanting more, click here.

I have read all kinds of material on increasing your odds for survival and how to keep cancer from returning. Odds of returning. Odds of surviving. To me that all sounds like taking bets at a horse track. At one time in the medical profession, the five year mark for being cancer free was the milestone to claim you beat the disease and that you are a true survivor. Five years to me didn't seem too long. I could do that. Five years later seemed like an eternity to me after my bladder cancer returned 22 months after my first diagnoses. Even more so after the third recurrence of bladder cancer and two lumps having to be removed from my breast 16 months later after finishing up my second round of treatments. Coming up on my 36 month anniversary in 10 days for being clean, can I not consider myself a survivor?

I have a friend that went through a double mastectomy for breast cancer while she was in her twenties and she is now in her forties. She is definitely a survivor. I have a friend who just finished treatments a month ago and to me she is just as much a survivor as the first. I also have two dear friends that passed with cancer after a 6 and 8 month battle. But for a duration of time, they were surviving.

Being a victim to this disease is very clear. It is when we are diagnosed and our lives change instantly on our vulnerability, our strength, and our mind set. And sometimes it means death. So when can we claim ourselves to be survivors?

Well in my humble opinion we are all survivors from when we are first diagnosed to whatever stage or time period we are in right now. We are living so we are surviving. We are facing the beast head on and going day to day in the activities of our lives.  Keeping a positive mind set is one of the best ways to deal with everything that gets thrown at you from the first time you hear "You have cancer."

So this is my mind set. I was a survivor one day after being diagnosed in 1998, and I have continued being a survivor although the cancer returned twice. I fight it. I am alive. I am a survivor. And so are you no matter what stage you are in facing this disease. You are alive so you are a survivor. You have the ability to create your own mind set. Whether your attitude is positive or negative, is up to you. So tell yourself that you are a survivor and keep that in your mind so you can over come all the hurdles that life puts in front of you every day you face the sunrise off in the horizon.

Heather Crowe never smoked, but she was diagnosed with lung cancer. After 40 years of working as a waitress in smoked-filled restaurants, she became a lung cancer victim of second-hand cigarette smoke. Four years ago, she began a campaign of lobbying the Canadian government to pass a law banning smoking in all public places. In television ads for Health Canada, Crowe described herself as the face of cancer caused by second-hand smoke. Eventually, Crowe convinced the Ontario Government to pass the Smoke Free Ontario Act. On May 31st, all bars, restaurants and indoor public places must be 100 percent smoke-free. The act will ban any smoking in any enclosed public places and will add restrictions to the promotion, handling and display of cigarettes in stores. As a result of her efforts, Crowe is credited with accomplishing more in tobacco control to protect public health than any other one person. She had told people she wanted to live long enough to see the anti-smoking legislation go into effect.

Sadly, Crowe died one week before she could see that happen, but not before she accomplished what she set out to do, and her legacy to protect the health of the public from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke will live on for generations to come. Crowe was 61.