Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)
Rose Kushner (1929-1990)
MSA SC 3520-13585
Biography:
In the battle of increasing breast cancer awareness and the
modernization of its treatment, there were few fighters greater than Rose Kushner, a
journalist and breast cancer expert who is known as being the “single most
important person in leading to [a] major change in breast surgery.”1
Throughout her adult life, she became “the advocate [women] could always depend
on” and countless lives are changed because of her endeavors.2
Rose Kushner was born on June 22, 1929, in Baltimore,
Maryland, to Israel and Fannie Rehert, two
European immigrants.3 She
was the youngest, and only daughter,4 of
four children, grew up in a Yiddish household, and attended Hebrew School.5
Ms. Kushner faced several challenges in her young life, the first being the
death of both of her parents before she was ten.6
The second was the refusal of her brothers to pay for her medical school
tuition despite her aspirations to be a physician.7 Alternatively,
Ms. Kushner worked as an assistant to Dr. Horsley Gantt, an animal behaviorist
at The Johns Hopkins University
Medical School.
She held this position from 1947 – 1951 as she took pre-medical night classes
at Baltimore Junior
College and Montgomery
Junior College.8
In 1951, Ms. Kushner married engineer/management
consultant Harvey Kushner; they had two sons, Gantt and Todd, as well as one daughter, Lesley.9
In 1955, she moved to Montgomery
County with her family and lived there
for the rest of her life.10
Ms.
Kushner continued to attend school, but recognizing her talent in
writing,
switched her focus to journalism. While attending school and raising
her
children, Ms. Kushner worked as a free-lance journalist and
writer. She focused most of her attention on political
issues,
Jewish/Israel
issues, and medical topics.11
One of her most noteworthy accomplishments was covering Vietnamese and American
intelligence affairs of the Vietnam War in 1967 for The Baltimore Sun, The
Montgomery County Sentinel, and the
Washingtonian Magazine.12
She was “able to able to surmount the difficulties of Saigon traffic in an
increasingly depressing campaign to find out what the United States
[was] doing wrong” and made tentative solutions.13
In 1972, Ms. Kushner obtained a Journalism degree from the University of Maryland.14
The direction of Ms. Kushner’s life changed drastically in June of 1974 when she discovered a lump in her breast.15
At the time of this discovery, the standard practice was to place a woman
suspected of having breast cancer under anesthesia so that
a biopsy could be preformed.16
If positive for cancer, a Halstead radical mastectomy, where not only
the women’s breast, but also the muscles of the chest wall, lymph glands, and
fat under the skin were removed, would be preformed while she
was still unconscious.17
This culmination was commonly called the one-step procedure, and while at the
time of its advent the procedure showed results, it also meant that a woman
would fall asleep not knowing if she would wake up with or without one of her
breasts. She would have no say in the decision making.18
Further, the woman would live the rest of her life "numb, without
sensation" on the side of the removal, as well as with a "sunken chest,
restricted movement, and frequent chronic pain in her arms."19
Unwilling to recognize the one-step procedure as the only
solution, Ms. Kushner utilized her proximity to the National Library of
Medicine, the National Institute of Health, and the National Cancer Institute,
as well as her journalism skills, to independently research breast cancer and
alternative treatments.20 After
self-educating herself on the matter, Ms. Kushner decided that she did not want
the one-step procedure or the Halstead radical mastectomy.21
She discovered that there was substantial medical evidence proving that the one-step
procedure, and in many cases, the Halstead radical mastectomy, were not
necessary.22 Among
other facts, she found experts knew by the time any breast
cancer lump is advanced enough to be felt or seen, it has been around for at
least two years, negating the need for immediate removal without consultation
with the patient.23
In what was considered radical for the time, Ms. Kushner
called nineteen different surgeons until she found one in Buffalo, New York,
that agreed to sign a contract she had written which ensured he would only perform a
biopsy while she was under anesthesia.24
Remaining true to the contract, the surgeon awoke Ms. Kushner after the surgery
to inform her that the lump was cancerous. Once again refusing to abide by the
standard, she had a modified mastectomy, where only part of her breast was
removed, followed by reconstructive surgery.25
Ms. Kushner had the option of returning to a life of relative
normalcy after the completion of her procedure. However, she took to heart the
idea that “if life hands you something not terrific that you know must be
confronted and examined, you are also handed a mandate to lead others through
the darkness where you’ve already been.”26 She abandoned her traditional career in
journalism and dedicated the rest of her life to not only bringing about
awareness of and education about breast cancer and its treatments, but to fight
for changes in its outdated methods. Years
later, women recognized that “it was her spirit buttressing millions of us as
we shivered in out little white sheets in examining rooms all over the world.”27
Ms. Kushner started by writing an article about her
discoveries and experiences that was published in the Washington Post and picked up by copious other publications.28
Following this, she expanded the article into a book originally titled Breast
Cancer: A Personal History and Investigative Report. This was published in 1975 and reprinted as Why Me? What Every
Woman Should Know About Breast Cancer to Save Her Life in 1977, and then as Alternatives: New Developments in the War on Breast Cancer in 1984.29
With the publication of her first edition of her book she gained national
recognition.30
In terms of
awareness and early prevention, Ms. Kushner encouraged women to take steps such as receiving regular
mammograms.31
She expressed the importance of not being afraid of the potential of cancer,
stating that “if you find the cancer early, you will not only save your
life but will also save your breast.”32
Additionally, she encouraged women to seek well-trained and experienced doctors,
technicians, therapists, and surgeons in order ensure they receive reliable
care.33
For technical procedures involving the treatment of breast
cancer, Ms. Kushner fought for the standardization of the two-step procedure
where the woman would be woken up after her biopsy so she could learn the
results and be a part of the decision making.34
Feeling that doctors and surgeons did not pay enough attention to the quality
of life of women when making treatment decisions, she suggested the adaptation of
lumpectomies, less radical mastectomies, and hormonal therapy versus
chemotherapy, all of which were less radical alternatives that could still rid
a women of breast cancer while limiting negative effects on her body.35
She further suggested adaptations of different drugs with fewer toxins to again
reduce wear-and-tear on a woman’s body.36
Her suggestions were highly criticized and largely rejected
by professionals in the medical field at first. As a testament to this, she was
booed off stage while speaking about her discoveries at the Society of Surgical
Oncology in 1975.37 Regardless,
Ms. Kushner carried on and founded the Breast Cancer
Advisory Center in Kensington, Maryland
that same year to assist and support breast cancer patients.38
Ms. Kushner continued to advocate changes in the treatment of
breast cancer, and in 1979 her efforts began to receive much needed and well
deserved attention. She was chosen to be the only female, as well as the only
lay-person, on the National Institute of Health (NIH) Panel for their Consensus
Development Conference.39
Here, most of her recommendations in relation to the treatment of breast cancer were
“unanimously approved by the other members of the June 5 National Institutes of
Health Consensus Development Conference.”40
Following this, the one-step procedure
began to be
replaced by the two-step procedure as the standard practice of
surgeons, amongst other improvements. For
the first time, medical experts supported a women’s right to be a part
of
deciding important factors such as their surgeon and the type of
treatment. Ms.
Kushner urged that “if [a woman faces] any argument from the hospital
or surgeon [in terms of having a say in the decision making], tell
them to ask the National Cancer Institute what the experts verdict was
on June
5, 1979.”41
Continuing to stay active, Ms. Kushner was appointed by President
Jimmy Carter to serve on the National Breast Cancer Advisory Committee from
1980-1986.42 While
in this position, she further investigated medical procedures and supported
patients.43 She
founded the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organization, an umbrella
organization that linked groups and publications while also lobbying to formally
change policies, and served as its board member from 1986 until 1989.44
While involved with this group, she was a mentor to many women, including Nancy
Brinker, who went on to found the Susan G. Komen Foundation in memory of her
sister who died from breast cancer at age thirty-six.45
Additionally, Ms. Kushner organized BreastPac, a political action committee
that advocated for, lobbied for, and fundraised for breast cancer awareness and
treatment.46
Ms. Kushner was the recipient of many awards including the
Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society (1987), the Medal of Courage from
the American Cancer Society (1988),47
two breast cancer reporting awards from the American Medical Writers Association
(1980 and 1985), and finally the James Ewing Award for Outstanding
Contributions by a Layperson in the Fight Against Cancer (1990).48
Ms. Kushner’s husband called her receipt of the latter award ''poetic justice''
because that very organization had booed her off the stage years before.49
In 1982, Ms. Kushner developed breast cancer once again and
would unfortunately lose the battle this time. While undergoing tamoxifen
therapy, she continued to be active.50
In 1984, she was involved in studies of silicone breast implants and in a
project to track health histories of women who had diethylstilbestrol during
pregnancy to see if there was an association with either in the development of breast
cancer.51
Additionally, her last action was to lobby the Federal Government to require
the coverage of mammograms by insurance companies.52
On January 7, 1990, sixteen years after she was first diagnosed with breast
cancer, Ms. Kushner passed away from the disease at Georgetown University Hospital at age sixty.53
Although years before Ms. Kushner developed breast cancer
there was evidence supporting better treatments and practices for it, they were
widely ignored. It was doubtful that ''the public would have accepted…or even
known about [the alternatives] if she had not been so persistent in her
efforts.''54 Her
determination “lit a candle in the darkness.”55 Because
of this, the world of breast cancer is substantially different. Women now have
alternatives and rights they had not experienced for decades. Because of Ms.
Kushner there are laws requiring women to be
presented with alternatives to mastectomy. In Maryland for example, a women must receive a
brochure, read it, and sign a form before she can proceed to
surgery.56 Ms.
Kushner was a woman whose “mere presence on this earth was comforting…just
knowing she was alive was enough.”57
Her story of resistance, determination, and altruism strikes deeply at the
chords of the heart and will continue to inspire awe throughout the coming
years.
Quotes:
“Women should be free, knowledgeable, and completely
conscious when the time comes for a decision, so that we can make it for
ourselves. Our lives are at stake, not a surgeon’s.”
-Rose Kushner58
“Thanks to Rose Kushner, among many, many other
accomplishments, no woman today should be put to sleep, not knowing-and letting
her surgeon decide- if she’ll awaken with or without a breast.” “She gave us
our voice”
-Gina Kolata59
Endnotes:
1.Gina Kolata, “Rose Kushner, 60, Leader in Breast Cancer
Fight,” The New York Times, 10
January 1990 return to text
2. Margaret
Mason, “’Race for the Cure:’ Carrying on the Spirit of Rose Kushner,” The Washington
Post, 22 January 1990 return to text
3. Judith
Rosenbaum, "Rose Kushner." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive
Historical Encyclopedia, last modified March 1, 2009, http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kushner-rose return to text
4. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
5. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
6. Ibid. return to text
7. Ibid. return to text
8. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers,
1953-1990: A Finding Aid: Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the
History of Women in America,”
Harvard University Library, last
modified July 1999, http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00028 return to text
9. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
10. Sandy
Rovner, “Rose Kushner, Advocate for Cancer Patients, Dies,” The Washington
Post, 09 January 1990 return to text
11. "Rose
Kushner," Contemporary Authors Online, Last modified 2003, Biography
In Context, 19 July 2013. return to text
12. Ibid. return to text
13. Rovner,
“Rose Kushner, Advocate for Cancer Patients” return to text
14. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
15. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers
1953-1990” return to text
16. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
17 Ibid. return to text
18.Ibid. return to text
19. Carolyn B. Stegman, Women of Achievement in Maryland History, (Maryland, Women of Achievement in Maryland History, Inc, 2002), pg. 234 return to text
20.Ibid. return to text
21.Ibid. return to text
22. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
23. Rose
Kushner, “Mastectomy: No Longer Automatic,” The
Sun, 06 July 1979 return to text
24. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
25. Ibid. return to text
26. Mason, “Race
for the Cure” return to text
27. Ibid. return to text
28. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers
1953-1990” return to text
29. Ibid. return to text
30. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
31. Gina Kolata,
“Mastectomy Seen as Extreme for Small Tumor,” The New York
Times, 18 October 1987 return to text
32. Ibid. return to text
33. “Science
Library,” The New York Times, 1 June
1982 return to text
34. "Rose
Kushner" return to text
35. Rovner,
“Rose Kushner, Advocate for Cancer Patients” return to text
36. “Science
Library” return to text
37. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
38. Ibid. return to text
39. Kushner,
“Mastectomy: No Longer Automatic” return to text
40. Rose
Kushner, “Report of the Breast Cancer Conference: Timonium M.D. Behind on His Reading?” The Sun, 28 July 1979 return to text
41. Kushner,
“Mastectomy: No Longer Automatic” return to text
42. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers
1953-1990” return to text
43.Ibid. return to text
44. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
45. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers
1953-1990” return to text
46. Rovner,
“Rose Kushner, Advocate for Cancer Patients” return to text
47. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers
1953-1990” return to text
48. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
49. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
50. Radcliff College, “Kushner, Rose. Papers
1953-1990” return to text
51. Ibid. return to text
52. Kolata,
“Rose Kushner, 60” return to text
53. Ibid. return to text
54. Ibid. return to text
55. Ibid. return to text
56. Gina Kolata,
“Mastectomy Seen as Extreme for Small Tumor” return to text
57. Mason, “Race
for the Cure” return to text
58. Rosenbaum,
“Rose Kushner” return to text
59. Mason, “Race
for the Cure” return to text
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