Piece Description

Two weeks before Thanksgiving Day 2005, Dina Howard was diagnosed with breast cancer. Over the ensuing months, the 39-year-old mother of two faced agonizing decisions about surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. At the time of her diagnosis, Dina, a former actress and arts administrator, was starting work as a freelance arts reporter for public radio station KXJZ in Sacramento. Despite having no radio experience, she had reporter-like instincts and lots of enthusiasm. But after she got the devastating news, her new vocation would have to wait. Or would it? While still dealing with the shock of the diagnosis, Dina had an idea: maybe she should keep the equipment she borrowed from the station and document her own battle with cancer. It would give her a task to focus on, she reasoned. And maybe the finished product would be helpful to others someday. And so, for one year between Thanksgivings, Dina kept an audio diary. But she didn't just record end-of-the-day reflections about her ordeal. She recorded her raw reactions during the most crucial moments of treatment: while she was in the pre-op waiting room before mastectomy surgery, in the infusion lounge during chemotherapy, and during radiation treatments with a giant machine hovering overhead. "Dina's Diary" is a powerful and emotional distillation of those experiences. It includes other important voices as well: Dina's family and friends, her doctors and nurses, even the owner of a wig shop she visited. Since its original airing on KXJZ in December, 2006, "Dina's Diary" has won awards from AP, PRNDI and PRPD. More importantly it has touched the lives of a great many listeners who have gone through, are going through, or will soon be starting cancer treatment. Here are a few of their comments: "I listened to Dina's Diary in the car last week and had to pull over in the rain to hear the whole thing. And I was crying, because it was so fresh in my memory. 2006 was my cancer year... Thank you Dina for taking this thing out of its private, polite world and giving it a voice. The emotions are overwhelming and we don't have a good way to handle them although family and friends are the most wonderful blessing of all." "My wife has finished 4 of 8 chemos by Christmas. We also read the comic-style book 'Cancer-Vixen' -Both your diary and that book have given us the roadmap that the doctors don't seem to have laid out well. She has a team of doctors, each a specialist in their part of the treatment, and so trying to get a roadmap is like pulling teeth. Only the cancer-victors who've been through can speak to our need, Thank you, thank you, thank you." "Listening to Dina's Diary tonight was the most powerful story I have ever heard on talk radio. It stopped me in my tracks. I am a 31 year old mother of two small children. As I cooked dinner and listened to Dina's story, tears streamed down my face. What would I do if I were diagnosed with breast cancer? My husband sat down and listened as well. Dina's words were honest and real. You could feel her fear. You could feel her will to survive. Thank you Dina for revealing the reality of such a frightening situation. I admire her determination to stay strong and to never give up. How beautiful to come out of this with humility and a renewed love for life."