Jeanne’s objective with this installation is to bring the viewer’s attention to all the people in a young breast cancer patient’s* life, the constellation of those around her who are deeply affected by the diagnosis.**  Since a woman under 40 often has young children at the time of her diagnosis and treatment, her disease then becomes part of the family lexicon.

A childless breast cancer patient must accept the fact that she may never give birth; treatment could compromise her fertility and pregnancy may endanger her life further.

A breast cancer diagnosis changes everything.  It changes one’s present life, provokes examination of the past and alters future paths.  The use of the word “has” in the accompanying text is deliberately provocative.  Through the use of the present tense, Jeanne emphasizes the fact that the diagnosis is always present, even after treatment and during remission. Jeanne, herself, is a breast cancer patient. Diagnosed at age 37, she underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment.  She is currently in remission.

How many lives does one breast cancer diagnosis touch?  It touches the circle of all the people a woman loves.  Look around this circle.  Do you see yourself?

* In the vocabulary of breast cancer, a pre-menopausal woman diagnosed under the age of 40 is described as a young breast cancer patient. 

** This installation’s focus is women; however, it must be emphasized that an estimated 460 men died of breast cancer in 2005.