As breast cancer stripped the life from her sister, Nancy Goodman Brinker made a promise to fight back. So in 1982, Brinker started Susan G. Komen for the Cure, named in her sister’s honor. Over the past 27 years, the organization has become the largest breast cancer charity in the world, raising more than $1 billion for research, education and health services as the mortality rate has continued to fall. Brinker, now 62, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2008 for the work she has done worldwide to combat the disease. She spoke with us about her efforts, and what inspires them.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I’m Jewish. I appreciate that it is a religion of service, of justice and repair. There’s a concept called “tikkun olam” in Judaism, which is a Hebrew phrase that means repairing or perfecting the world. I try to honor that.
As you were growing up, did anyone especially influence your faith, or your path in life?
I grew up in Peoria, Ill., where my parents were my chief role models. They instilled in my sister and I a sense of service, of fixing what is broken. My father had a tremendous work ethic — he showed his faith in the way he lived each day. My mother was always involved in charitable activities, and each Saturday she made us go with her to a shelter, or to the Red Cross — someplace where we observed her giving back to the community.
How has your work with Susan G. Komen for the Cure influenced your thoughts about potential reforms to our country’s health care?
We need to do a lot more to provide access and care, and to close the gaps in our system. We need to encourage more community health care centers to keep people out of the emergency rooms. Certain types of cancer are, in some ways, becoming chronic diseases that we need to be able to treat as chronic diseases, and to teach people how to live with them. And we need to encourage treatment outside of the emergency rooms, and educate people about what resources might be available within their communities.
You amassed a widely regarded art collection while you served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary. What drives your artistic appreciation?
I started collecting Hungarian art because I could never speak the language, so I tried to speak the culture — I found myself telling the story of Hungary through its art. I simply felt a very strong attachment to it. I served in Hungary soon after 9/11, and it was a time of very strong feelings within me, and the art evoked those feelings — the colors, the brushstrokes. I’ve collected these because they represent an odyssey that I walked through. I don’t know if I have room for many more pieces, but I’ve started collecting the letters about the pieces, and the ephemerals. They mean very much to me.
How have efforts to combat breast cancer in the United States differed from efforts in other parts of the world?
Last November in India, I sat with a young woman in a cancer support center. She was about the same age that my sister was when she had cancer. The woman asked me “Is my disease contagious? Am I going to die?” Why, this many years later, should a woman be asking if her disease is contagious? It’s ridiculous. That’s part of the reason we’re opening a new advocacy office in Washington, D.C., to be able to work not only on educating people here, but on global outreach, as well. We at Susan G. Komen need to help people in their need for good, quality cancer care.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe that each of us has the power to change the world — I believe in the power of one. Everyone, every day, can do one thing to make the world a better place.
