by Paromita Pain
-USA-

Susan Mai did not want to die. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her doctor prescribed a course of chemotherapy, she knew it was the most that could be done. The very words “cancer” and “chemotherapy” evoke images of sufferers with empty eyes staring out of hollowed faces marked by the havoc of the illness haunt. Yet the experience caused Susan to become a stronger individual. “Of course it’s scary,” Mai says, “but there’s more to it than hair loss or the fact that you can emerge looking very different from the way you went in.”

by Paromita Pain
-USA-

Birthdays mark milestones. For Terry Arnold, one birthday changed the course of her life. “I had just turned 49 when one morning I woke up with one breast significantly swollen,” she says. “Soon I went from a cup C to a D and my bra wouldn’t fit.” Today, Arnold is an Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) survivor. She is a passionate advocate speaking out for greater awareness and education about this rare, but extremely aggressive form of breast cancer. It is efforts like hers and other survivors’ that have made IBC part of the dialogue on cancers that affect women.

by Paromita Pain
-USA-

“We cried the first time I told my family I had Sjögren's syndrome,” says Susan Ross. “Dealing with the pain and fatigue seemed so overwhelming at times, but I was glad to finally know what it was.”

Ross is among the lucky ones. It only took 10 years for doctors to diagnose her with Sjögren’s syndrome. An autoimmune disorder, Sjögren’s is finally making headlines thanks to tennis superstar Venus Williams, who pulled out of the U.S. Open, citing Sjögren's as a cause.

by Paromita Pain
-India-

Gropes, stealthy fingers that pinch and leave bruises, catcalls, severe beatings, systematic starvation, emotional torture and worse – harassment against women takes many forms, and like issues of hunger and poverty, it is global in scope.

The recent report, "Violence against Women Prevalence Data: Surveys by Country March 2011,” compiled by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women), says that most women will face harassment from either close partners or strangers at least once in their lifetime.