Dr. Cheryl Willman, Leading New Mexico's Cancer Research Effort |
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FEATURES Surviving and Thriving After Cancer And So the Story Goes... |
Dr. Cheryl Willman, Leading New Mexico's Cancer Research Effort To date, Willman’s 24-page, single-spaced, curriculum vitae illustrates her numerous academic and professional accomplishments. A passionate researcher and medical professor, she is focused on finding the cause of acute leukemia. Since 1981, she has run a major national leukemia research laboratory program to uncover the cause and find a cure for both adult and pediatric leukemia. Willman notes, “We are one of only 12 specialized centers of research in leukemia in the United States.” Recently, Willman landed two competitive grants totaling over $13 million dollars from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). |
Surviving and Thriving
If you’ve ever had one, it stands out in sharp detail—like hearing about the Kennedy assassination for several generations of Americans. You know where you were and what was said. You can recall details about the air, the colors, and the other people present. “It” is a cancer diagnosis. Many of the women I have encountered have told me of their reactions upon hearing the diagnosis. Adele Frances tells me an anecdote about seeing her doctor in the hall prior to her entering the examination room for the results of a mammogram. He said, “How are you?” I said, “I don’t know until you tell me.” He told me it looked cancerous—that I should see a surgeon for a biopsy. I wasn’t surprised; I had been preparing. Adele had just gone through a sister’s breast cancer, as well as that of a friend. |
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He summoned Cleopatra, some say, out of a desire to know her political loyalties in a time of regional turmoil. But when the queen of Egypt sailed into the port of Tarsus in 42 B.C., she wooed Marc Antony—celebrated Roman general and man about town—to her side. Arriving on a barge decorated in purple sails and silver oars, surrounded by maidens dressed as sea nymphs and cupid-like servants, Cleopatra lounged under a golden canopy—the physical personification of Venus, the goddess of love. She made a lasting impression. One of the most celebrated women in history, Cleopatra inherited Egypt at the age of 18. Initially paired with a brother eight years her junior, she strategically wed Caesar—and later, Marc Antony—in moves that would secure her independence, her fondness for men of reputation, and the tentative freedom of a country she ruled with passion. For a woman whose life would become the stuff of legends, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. The Romans embarked on one of the earliest smear campaigns against a female, reducing her memory to that of a sorceress and seductress. Yet history has crowned Cleopatra an immortal woman of goddess-like talent—a ruler whose humor and wit distinguished her from others of that day. |
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