'What We Have' Tells Us What We Need

The book 'What We Have' by Amy Boesky was delivered on Wednesday about 10:00 a.m.and by 11:00 p.m. that same night I had finished one of the most wonderful non-fiction books.  I took time among reading to do regular chores but I had to get back to Amy's story.  Amy, Julie and Sarah are sisters with an horrible problem they were faced with their entire life.  They shared a family trait and it was a deadly one. When reading the title and the inside cover one finds out that cancer is the family trait that has been shared with all the women in the family.  Sadly, all the women are having daughters and not sons.  This means that the girls in the family is faced with the same result, cancer.   First impressions of this book would mean show that this was a book full of depressing chapters of depressing episodes in life.  That first impression would have been wrong.  This book is filled with much humor, insight, joy, pain, growth and struggle.  This family is deciding how to live in the present while taking into account their past and their futures.   I do not recall one part of the story that was slow and difficult to read.  I thought that I was sitting next to Amy on her sofa in a sea of green shag.  We could have been drinking some tea and I could have been listening to Amy tell a story about her family.  It was that real and engaging.   You realize in this story of this family that they were exceedingly normal with an difficult situation to overcome.  You begin to ask yourself that same questions they had to ask.  It is impossible to know if you would make the same decisions they did, but you definitely admit that you are relieved that you did not have to make actually those same decisions.   Taking Care of the Written Word, Dannielyn This book was given to me to read and review.  The review is a honest account of this writer's opinion and not a paid endorsement.

Cashing in on Breast Cancer: A Woman Sentenced to Jail for Breast Cancer Hoax

For Many Women Who Have Breast Cancer This Behavior is Outrageous


Many women who have a diagnosis of breast cancer find themselves in a fight for their lives. Many do not have a large support system or financial resources to assist them. One woman cashes in on others sympathy and money for a diagnosis she does not have.

Breast cancer is a terrifying disease that not only can take a life but take away a woman's sense of femininity and in many cases their identity. Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and reconstruction takes time and it takes a great amount of money for the average patient to receive treatment for their breast cancer. Time is missed at work to have the tests, surgeries, treatments and recovery that are necessary. It is easy to say that breast cancer affects more than just the patient and her immediate family. It can affect the larger community. It is for this reason that the behavior of Keele Maynor is so offensive to so many individuals, families, businesses and organizations affected by breast cancer.

Keele Maynor is a 39-year-old resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee who faked a breast cancer diagnosis. Maynor did this not to garner merely sympathy from family, friends and co-workers, but to receive money, sick leave donations and support services. This generosity was granted to Maynor under the belief that they would be helping a woman who was in dire need for help and support.

Maynor worked for the city of Chattanooga and was given thousands of dollars of sick leave from co-workers, donations, therapies and services that are often in short supply for real cancer patients from cancer support groups. Maynor sent an email upon leaving the city job that her 2008 cancer experience was a "charade". She asked the judge to give her only probation so she could pay back the money that she "stole" by working during the probation. However, the judge sentenced her to three and one half years in jail, 10 years probation and a fine of $54,000.

The are so many questions that need to be answered about what would motivate this woman to steal from her co-workers and others. But mostly the question surrounding how she could do this to women who do in fact have breast cancer? This is so difficult to understand why someone would take advantage of others who have a desire to help when breast cancer is involved. Then to make matters worse, act like it was no big deal when leaving the position that offered you support and financial resources by letting people know it was a charade. For the mother of young children who is looking at chemotherapy, surgeries and sleepless nights from worry about what will happen to her life and to her children's life this is outrageous.

Look at Elizabeth Edwards. She has financial resources to pay for her treatments yet she is in stage four breast cancer. She has two young children she may not see grow up to adulthood. She lives each day knowing that the cancer is spreading throughout her body. She lives each day knowing that something could change at the last moment and take her life immediately.

Maybe the jail time is not enough. An idea that has been floating around would be adding mandatory five to ten years of hands on volunteering for breast cancer patients. It may be a great opportunity to see what she really took from others by taking money and services for something she did not have. Maynor needs to see what she really did to these patients, volunteers and service agencies.

Associated Press, Chattanooga, TN, Associated Press