Terese
Lasser
Reaching
for Hope
By Mike Smith
Throughout the history of medicine and patient service there have been many unsung heroes, who made a significant difference in other lives and then, quite unceremoniously, were forgotten. Terese Lasser who created one of the largest patient service organizations in the world is unknown to most of the people who have benefited from her efforts.Having worked for the American Cancer Society for over 20 years, I became most interested when the USPS announced that the first USA semipostal stamp would benefit Breast Cancer Research. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to combine my interest in first day covers with my professional working life, as I have over 40 different cachet designs for this issue in my collection.
I came across Doris Gold’s name through the internet. I had seen some of her work before and had been very impressed by the beautiful covers she created. Doris informed me that she had not created a cachet for this stamp. However, she did occasionally accept requests for one-of-a-kind Add-on cachets. She readily agreed to design a cachet when I told her Terese Lasser's story.
For most of my adult life, I have been aware of the program Reach to Recovery. This patient service program helps breast cancer survivors share practical advice and emotional support with new patients who are often frightened and overwhelmed. It may sound simple now, but when it was created in 1952, it was a revolutionary idea.
Terese Lasser married the famous tax expert J. K. Lasser in 1922. She was only 18 years old at the time. Being a wife and mother were around-the-clock jobs, yet she also had time to help her husband prepare the first edition of his best-selling book "Your Income Tax". For Terese, even her relaxation was an activity. She loved dancing, swimming, golf, parties and entertaining at home. In short, she was living a very full and active life. She certainly didn't have time for being ill.
In 1952, when she was 48 years old, her doctor discovered a small lump in her right breast. He scheduled her for a routine biopsy. She was so unconcerned about the upcoming operation that she didn't even bother to tell her husband about it. He had recently suffered two heart attacks and she didn't want to worry him unnecessarily. She had expected it to be a quick routine operation. She was soon to discover otherwise.
Terese Lasser awoke from the operation to discover that the doctors had removed her entire right breast. They had found cancer during the biopsy and chose to perform a radical mastectomy, not an uncommon medical decision in 1952. Nowadays mastectomies are still commonly performed, but they are not usually done without warning.
Terese Lasser had survived the mastectomy but soon discovered, much to her chagrin, that there was no emotional support available for a woman in her position. Yet Terese was determined to fully recover from this terrible operation. She did recover, and in the process began to realize that other women could also survive and go on to lead fulfilling lives. That realization became the seed that eventually blossomed into the Reach to Recovery program. In her book of the same name, Terese speaks eloquently to the mastectomy patient: “There is, indeed a Valley of Despair, desolate, solitary, swept by anguish, darkened by confusion. I, too, have been there.”
It’s hard to fully understand what it must have been like for Terese during those first agonizing hours after discovering what had happened to her. Here, in her own words, are some of the thoughts that went through her mind:
...when told that my right breast had been removed, I wanted to shrivel up and die. How could I face life, a scarred woman? ...How could such a life be worth living?Terese’s fears about her husband proved to be groundless. He would become one of her most avid supporters and would be instrumental in the creation of Reach to Recovery. His support would enable Terese to publish her first manual for women undergoing breast surgery.And -- most tormenting thought of all -- what about my husband?
...Suppose, in spite of his love and his devotion, he should be repelled by me? ...Was it possible for a man to desire a woman who wasn't whole? Suppose all my husband could feel for me now, all he would ever be able to feel, was pity? -- so that never again would he need me, or reach for me as a man reaches for a woman?
If that were to be so, better not to be alive at all...
One of the largest hurdles Terese had to overcome was the initial opposition of doctors to allow an untrained lay person to even talk to their patients. Through her deep faith, Terese overcame the obstacles of reluctant acceptance at hospitals, the naysayers who gave nothing but discouragement, impossible travel schedules, alarming financial difficulties, and the limits of her own physical tolerance in her one-woman campaign.
During her recovery, Terese discovered certain exercises were more beneficial for her than others. Because some underlying muscles are often removed during the mastectomy procedure, it becomes very difficult to move the arm on the affected side of the body. She devised many exercises that forced her to reach out. She found that these reaching exercises were a great way to rebuild the strength and mobility she had lost -- thus the name, Reach to Recovery.
One day, shortly after her surgery, Terese learned about an old acquaintance, Helen, who had just suffered through the same ordeal. Helen had fallen into a deep depression, refusing to speak to anyone. Eventually, she did agree to have Terese visit her. Here, again are Terese’s own words.
When the nurse left us alone, the woman in bed looked at me without, apparently, any recognition whatsoever. When I spoke she did not reply. The dark eyes stared, unblinking, clouded with pain and resentment. I wanted to back away, to apologize for having come, to escape from the weight of that silent suffering.By the time the program became affiliated with the American Cancer Society in 1969, Terese had established 300 chapters in the United States and abroad. Terese would continue as the National Coordinator until her retirement in 1977. Two years later, on October 30th 1979, Terese Lasser would die of a heart ailment.Then I remembered my own feelings, lying in just such a bed. Instead of backing away, I drew up a chair and sat down and began to talk quietly, almost at random, concerned less for the words than for the thought behind them -- that it’s possible for a woman to discover within herself wellsprings of strength that she did not know she possessed, tenderness and perception far beyond anything she has ever known before. Rather than being less a person after this operation, I said, a woman’s femininity can be enhanced, her ability to love increased, her awareness of her womanhood heightened. I said I was finding all this to be true, myself.
And from Helen V. B. -- No response. No sound. Nothing even to indicate she had been listening.
I stood up.
“I’m running late, Helen,” I said briskly, “and I’ve been on the go since seven this morning.” Slowly her head turned on the pillow. I went on, “A regular merry-go-round! Eighteen holes of golf, then a quick swim, and you know what it was driving in here fighting that traffic.” At long last, a reaction -- her eyes were widening in a kind of entranced disbelief. “I’d stay longer,” I added, raising both arms to put on my hat, “but I really must get home to change for a cocktail party.”
She spoke then, in a choked whisper. “You haven’t gone through what I have. They didn’t do to you what they’ve done to me.”
“Yes,” I said, “yes, my dear, they did,” and I leaned over, gently took her hand and held it to my left breast, then to my right. “One is mine, Helen. Can you tell which is which?”
I stepped back and waited.
She started to speak, and could not. Her eyes filled with tears. She shook her head, but she understood. She knew she was not alone. Color came into her face, and a glowing into her eyes that could only be hope coming alive. She motioned for my hand, and pressed it against her cheek.
At that precise moment, I think, the idea for Reach to Recovery was born.
Her legacy continues to touch many lives. Reach to Recovery International has active chapters in 44 different countries. Ena Wanliss, current National Coordinator, reports that over 16,000 trained volunteers made over 87,000 visits to breast cancer patients in the U.S. last year. Each of the women helped by this program have experienced the support that Terese lacked. Because of her efforts, they didn't have to go through the trauma alone.
Doris Gold, after extensive research, was able to discover Terese's family still living in New York. They were able to provide her with Terese’s hair and eye coloring, and with this final bit of information, Doris was able to complete the cachet. Note the "extension" of the rainbow stamp colors into the cachet design, significant to Terese's outlook. I think she did an outstanding job.
Nearly every work day, I ship supplies and materials to Reach to Recovery volunteers. It is enormously satisfying to rediscover the amazing woman who, out of her pain and fear, created a legacy of reaching for recovery to millions of women. Terese Lasser is truly one of the unsung heroines of our time. She should not be forgotten.
Return to:Hand-Painted/Hand-Colored Cachets
Printed Cachets
Attached Cachets
Photocopied Cachets
Computer Printed Cachets Part One
Computer Printed Cachets Part Two
Other Related Philatelic Material
Email me: smith@in.net