"At that time, I didn’t know a single person who had survived breast cancer," said Rosemary. "It was something people didn’t talk about." Shortly after her initial diagnosis, Rosemary was visited by a Reach to Recovery volunteer.

"She was surviving and she looked great. She was a huge help to me," said Rosemary. After a long recovery, Rosemary began visiting hospital patients through her church and realized that people knew about her battle with cancer.

"They were so glad to see me because here I was, looking pretty good, walking around, doing things. I realized that cancer patients really related to me and the fact that I was surviving and going on with my life. That’s when I contacted the American Cancer Society and decided to become a Reach volunteer."

The Reach to Recovery program helps people cope with their breast cancer experience by pairing newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with breast cancer survivors who can offer support and hope.

"Nowadays there is so much help available to patients, but what they don’t have is something from someone who’s been there. No matter what the doctors and nurses tell them, they always kind of wonder if that’s really true," explained Rosemary. "But when they talk to someone who’s actually gone through it, it means a tremendous amount to them. That’s what is the most valuable about this. It’s providing something that people aren’t getting any other way."

As a 31-year breast cancer survivor who also faced a recurrence 11 years after her initial diagnosis, Rosemary has a lot of hope to offer women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. She has been a dedicated volunteer for the Reach to Recovery program in South Bend for 23 years and has served as a coordinator and a state trainer.

"Rosemary is a wonderful breast cancer advocate and educator," said Kathy Deka, community program representative for ACS. Kathy nominated Rosemary for participation in the Breast Cancer Research Program because of her experience and wealth of knowledge.

The Program, which is sponsored by the Department of Defense, brings together prominent scientists and 116 consumer reviewers who are active volunteers nominated by their organization with the purpose of determining how funding will be spent on future breast cancer research. Rosemary traveled to Washington, D.C. in July to participate.

"We had to rate the proposals in terms of what actual value they would be to patients or families or communities as far as breast cancer goes," explained Rosemary, who had full voting rights on a panel of 20 scientists and three other cancer survivors. The consumer reviewers also put a face to the disease for the scientists doing breast cancer research.

"They could see that people do survive breast cancer now and they were delighted to have us there," said Rosemary. "It was an amazing experience."

If you would like to learn more about Reach to Recovery, please contact your American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345.

Pictured: Rosemary Toepp