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, 17-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 Co-Coordinator, 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 ten years working together through four editions, we are amazed at how much we have been able to do. 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 Robert Millikan and the Carolina Breast Cancer Study at UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, or past 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, Founder and Co-Coordinator

Elizabeth Mahanna,
Researcher and Co-Coordinator