Shirley Temple Black has passed at 85yrs old.

MusicLover

Shirley Temple Black has passed at 85yrs old.  She was dear to so many of us when we were children and as adults.  In addition , to being an adorable entertainer as a child and an accomplished UN advisor as an adult, she was a breast cancer survivor and a wonderful advocate for awareness of the disease.

NatsFan

She truly was a pioneer in breast cancer patient advocacy.  When she was d/x, b/c was considered private, almost shameful, and polite women didn't talk about it.  She helped change that attitude with her own openness.  Also at the time she was dx, it was common practice for a woman with a lump to undergo a biopsy under a general anesthesia - the lump was tested immediately, and if it was cancer, a radical mastectomy was performed immediately.  Those poor women went under not knowing if they'd wake up with a breast or not!  

Shirley Temple Black was one of the first to say no to this barbaric system, demanding that the biopsy be done separately and that she be given the results.  That would give her time to explore her options about any subsequent surgery.  Her statement was, "The doctor will make the incision, but I will make the decision."  This was flat out heresy in the male-dominated surgical world back then - doctors were thought of as demi-gods and were not accustomed to patients like her who actually expected to be included in their own medical decisions. 

A full account of breast cancer and the push and pull between doctors and patients can be found in a fascinating book, "Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History" by James S. Olson.  It traces the history of breast cancer from earliest times right through the present, and how treatments and attitudes about b/c have changed.  Shirley Temple's story is featured in the book as one of the brave women who challenged the male-dominated world and demanded that patients be given a say in our own medical decisions. I read it when I was doing chemo, and it really helped me understand how much b/c has been a part of history, and how many brave women in history have walked this path before us and how rough many of them had it.  That book made me appreciate how much Shirley Temple did for all of us who came after her.  

Thank you, Shirley, and RIP.

edwards750

She was a courageous woman and an incredible child star and entertainer and diplomat. Doctors do think of themselves as demagogues daring we patients to challenge them on their expert opinions. We need their expertise of course but they need to get a grip on whose life it is and who makes the call. They dispense the advice; we make the call. I have a friend who decided she wanted to have a double MX. Her BS, who is also mine, said she didn't need to do that a lumpectomy was sufficient. He is all about saving the breast and that's fine but do any of us really care that much when BC is involved? Anyway she went to her oncologist and the head of the West Clinic, very well know Cancer Clinic in Memphis, and said she wanted a double MX. We all know our oncologists have the final say so they met and sanctioned her decision to remove both breasts. This friend is a nurse at St. Jude Childrens Hospital so you can well imagine she sees everything in the C world. She had the double MX over the BS recommendations. She told them it was her body and her life....says it all. Shirley Temple Black...RIP...will never forget the Good Ship Lollipop song...one of her partners in the dance scenes like the one about the Civil War - cant remember the guy's name said she was the most amazing child star he had ever met. He showed her once and she got it. Plus she was so incredibly adorable....the most famous child star ever...