If We Must Dance, Then I Will Lead: A Memoir of Breast Cancer Survival

The first book on the subject of breast cancer survival from the point of view of a woman who has the support of seven sisters, If We Must Dance, Then I Will Lead combines memoir and science writing. A fresh voice tells a story of surviving a labyrinth of knives, needles, and radiation beams. Jane and her sisters were cut from the same cloth. The nuns told them, "Take it on the chin;" Mom said, "Offer it up for the poor souls in purgatory;" Daddy said, "Mind your mother." There they were, grounded in acquiescence, long-suffering, and obedient when the beast tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "Shall we dance?" If We Must Dance, Then I Will Lead is laced with humor to soften the starkness of medical terminology. Julie, the certified cranial prosthesis fitter, sets Jane up with a wig that gives her a hairstyle that looks like the ladies at Thursday night Bingo. Esther, the breast prosthesis fitter, insists that she's a D cup when she's been a 36B since high school and doesn't like the look of a rubber nipple showing through her sweater This memoir will encourage women to advocate for themselves in the scary world of oncology.

Jane Rudden is an established writer in the field of literacy education. She holds an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in reading. She is an author for Kendall/Hunt Publishing Group and Pearson Education Group. Jane divides her time between Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Fenwick Island, Delaware.