I remember when you couldn't even say breast, let alone breast cancer. Women did not say those words. That has changed quite a bit.

Breast cancer is the disease that, for a long time, women feared the most. In this country, we're so focused on physical looks. We tie the issue of femininity to physical appearance, and people think primarily of breast cancer that threatens your breasts -- though those who have it realize, more significantly, that it threatens your life.

[The proliferation of pink ribbons] to some extent puts a happy face on breast cancer, ... We think breast cancer is taken care of, but that is so very far from the truth.

It's important to remember we're talking about giving drugs with significant side effects to healthy women. This isn't prevention. It's risk reduction, and our methods of assessing risk are extremely rudimentary.

It was such a phenomenal statement: 'I may have a disease, but I am here and I am not going away,' ... Even if you have breast cancer, you are still full of life.

I know from being a doctor and being a patient, when you hear the words 'You have cancer,' your whole world turns upside down. Your mind starts racing that you have to get to treatment the very next instant. You have time to catch your breath and realize you need to seek out additional options.