Challenges are gifts
that force us to search for a new center
of gravity. Don’t
fight them. Just find a different way
to stand.
— Oprah Winfrey
 Breast cancer touches and teaches
everyone. It changes lives and shifts perspectives
on what matters most.
As Founder of the Resource Directory, and
a two-time, 14-year breast cancer survivor,
Jamie Konarski Davidson represents the face
and voice of many breast cancer survivors
throughout North Carolina and beyond.
Having
breast cancer at the young age of 32 and
a recurrence at age 34 changed the course
of Jamie’s life and led her
to two passions — nature photography
and the Resource Directory. Neither would
have been realized without that life-changing
diagnosis in 1992. A sense of purpose evolved,
and the Resource Directory was born out
of unswerving dedication, hard work and
utter persistence.
Liz Mahanna, a cancer
survivor herself and a University of
North Carolina public health researcher,
joined the project in 1999 and provides a
research and scientific voice. As Project
Director, she feels it is important for research
institutions to give back to people in
the community and state that they serve.
As
we look back on our seven years working
together through three editions, we are amazed
at how much we have been able to do. We have
taken joy in creating all three editions
of the Resource Directory because of the
lives of the people it affects. Our commitment
is to make a difference—for the newly
diagnosed woman who has no idea of where
to turn for help, for the thirty-something
woman who has a lump in her breast and
can’t
afford a mammogram, or the five-year
survivor of breast cancer looking to
make a difference in her own community.
We charge on with our two-person
team and an overwhelming and never-ending “to
do” list on a shoestring budget
because we know that what we are doing
continues to make a difference in thousands
of North Carolina lives impacted by a
diagnosis of breast cancer.
The women
and men of North Carolina have kept the
project alive in our hearts by letting
us know how helpful it is and how glad
they are that finally there was something
out there for women (and men) in North
Carolina diagnosed with breast cancer.
The
Resource Directory is a mammoth-size mountain
to climb, filled with hard lessons and
challenges—a
test of our commitment and perseverence.
We have not climbed alone.
We could never
have accomplished all that we have without
the time and talents of dedicated volunteers
and contributors, without the special people
and organizations who stepped up to hold
fundraisers or contribute financially,
or without the unwavering support of the
NC Triangle Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen
Breast Cancer Foundation.
As women whose
lives have been touched and changed by
cancer, we put our hearts, gifts and talents
into giving back to women and men affected
by a breast cancer diagnosis. We hope our
labor of love will help make a difference
in the journey that lies before you.
Jamie Konarski Davidson,
Breast Cancer Survivor and Founder
Elizabeth Mahanna,
Project Director
Breast Cancer Resource Directory
of North Carolina
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Introduction
Diagnosis & Treatment
