do with you. In another conversation we had online before we met, you told me that you considered yourself a support group without the group. Today, I am proposing that we give you the group. Inside this envelope are the founding documents of the charitable endeavor that will be my legacy, and a job offer. I would like you to be the chief executive of the foundation, with total authority to shape its vision and its mission. We are going to provide thousands of women the sort of support you have given me, and we are going to do it however you see fit.”
She closed the binder and slid it across the table. When I saw the letters emblazoned upon the front, my lips began to quiver.
BFF: THE BREAST FRIENDS FOUNDATION
“Almost all of the legal work to get us started has been done. We have a meeting this afternoon with the lawyers. You’ll need to get to know them quickly. We’ll meet with Dr. Z tomorrow. I have asked him to be our first medical consultant. And then, after that, it’s pretty much going to be up to you to figure it out. I have the utmost confidence in you, Samantha, to take this and make a real difference. To make thousands of women feel the way you did when the cute nurse with the dimples told you that you no longer had cancer. That’s your mission.”
I ran my fingers over the smooth leather cover silently. I had no idea what to say.
“It’s a little overwhelming, I know,” Katherine said, more softly now. “If you want to take a little time to think it over, I’ll understand.”
I didn’t need any time to think about anything. I stood and walked around the table and put my arms around her shoulders, and just like that my life was changed.
So that was how it began.
And what it begat has been the most fulfilling experience of my life. I am exhausted and frazzled and fully consumed by this job, and I love every second of it. I have never known what it is like to feel this committed to anything. It is rewarding beyond words, and in its own way it is freeing as well. I wouldn’t change a moment of my life the last few months, and I don’t have any other plans for the immediate future. My goal is to run this foundation until it is no longer necessary, until the day when a woman like Katherine or Brooke or me will be diagnosed with cancer and say: “Shoot, I’m going to be out of work for a week.” Or: “I hope the medication doesn’t upset my stomach.” I honestly believe I will live to see that day.
Katherine gave me the authority to decide exactly how best to utilize the enormous endowment she designated to the Breast Friends Foundation. My first idea was to provide counseling and support for patients immediately after diagnosis, so we began with that, and that is an ever-expanding goal. We also provide grants for women who have to leave their jobs, or substantially reduce their hours, during their treatment cycles. That is a complicated process but it is wonderfully rewarding. We have made a real difference; there are at least two women I am convinced would have lost their homes were it not for our assistance. So that is a big part of what we do. But I quickly realized there wasn’t any way we could justify all the dollars Katherine gave us in those endeavors alone. So, about a month into the process, I decided our primary function would be to fund cutting-edge medical research. We have already donated more than $15 million toward breast cancer research in Katherine’s name, and in the next year we should double that. Phillip Rogers, the Wall Street powerhouse who once broke Katherine’s heart, is in charge of our investments and has done brilliantly well, even in a challenging economy. His passion for this cause, and his devotion to honoring Katherine’s wishes, have been invaluable and, in their own way, heartwarming.
As for Katherine, she and Stephen were in Aspen by the end of the first week. When she said she was entrusting it all to me she wasn’t exaggerating. She said she had spent enough time working in her life, and not enough climbing mountains. She also said she thought I had climbed my share of mountains and needed to try the work.
“And,” she said, “don’t count on hearing a