Talkin' ta tas

One of my favorite support groups in the world is the Tanner Ta Tas, a group of breast cancer survivors from Woburn (home to the former tanneries so vilified in the book and movie, “A Civil Action”) and a place where there seems to be an unusually high number of breast cancer cases among YOUNG women. I had written about them many times while editor of the Woburn Advocate but yesterday they asked me to do something I had never done before -- be one of the speakers at their annual Brunch and Learn. I told them about losing my friend Cissy this year. She was a seven-year breast cancer survivor who died of a heart attack and she had been at a Ta Ta event last year, when the group had its annual “turn the common pink” night, where DPW crews flip a switch and the trees on Woburn Common are illuminated with pink lights during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And I told them how Cissy was a Ta Ta at heart, because the Ta Tas are known not only for their kindness to breast cancer patients and survivors from the area, but for their sustaining sense of humor. (Some members who have lost a breast to cancer affectionately call each other “winkies.”) I recounted how Cissy, when she met with the surgeon who was going to tattoo on a nipple where her real one had been removed, told the guy she’d only agree to the surgery if the tattoo said, “If you can read this, you’re too close.” They loved it. And I told them I plan to keep writing about them, because the story of these young mothers --who are not only demanding answers about their high incidence of breast cancer but are supporting each other in ways I’ve never seen any organization do – is one that deserves a broader audience than Woburn’s. It’s a promise I intend to keep.