(CBS 5) In 1990, eleven Bay Area women decided their breast cancer support group wasn't enough.
"One of them, whose name is Eleanor Pritt, said to the rest of them, look, this support group is very important to us and we should keep doing this, but isn't it time for political action?" explains Barbara Brenner.
From a single meeting, Breast Cancer Action was born. The women founded a San Francisco-based organization to serve as an information referral system and advocate for health-related policy and a program to fund scientific research and pushed for investigation of environmental links.
"I sometimes wish I could talk to those women. But they are mostly dead," Barbara says.
Someone had to carry their mission forward. That someone was Barbara Brenner.
"I got started in this because I had breast cancer at the age of 41," she says. "Our mission is to carry the voices of people affected by breast cancer to inspire and compel the changes necessary to end this epidemic."
Barbara was a lawyer with no medical experience except her own. But she jumped in with both feet because of people like art gallery owner Annette Shutz.
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer and my whole world turned upside down," says Annette.
She turned to Breast Cancer Action for information and support.
Annette says, "They're truth seekers. That's how I see it. They look for the truth and getting information to women, so it was an extraordinary resource for me."
Barbara had become an unstoppable voice in advocacy for breast cancer research and health care policy, and was known from city hall to the state capital, where she helped drive a bill through the legislature to force cosmetic manufactures to reveal what's in their products.
"I get emotional when I think about Barbara and how she's dedicated her life to ending the breast cancer epidemic," says Annette. "It's really extraordinary."
"I do it because I love to do it. I have to do it," Barbara says. "And I feel I am on this planet for a reason. This must be it."
So for tackling the health and political aspects of breast cancer to better serve women fighting the battle, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Barbara Brenner.
By Kate Kelly
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