Promise Me

This is the story how one woman's deathbed promise led to the founding of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an international movement to find a cure for breast cancer. Brinker tells of growing up with her older sister, who forges ahead in life until she loses her battle with breast cancer in the 1970s, a time when the disease was only whispered about and was a virtual death sentence. Coleen Marlo puts the enthusiasm and sincerity of the author front and center in the narration. She holds strong emotions in check and reflects the determination that is the major factor in the success of the Komen foundation. The story is wrapped in a tone of civility and graciousness that suggests an author who takes pride in being a Southern lady. J.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

August 23, 2010
Both Nancy and Susan Goodman, born in the mid-1940s to a businessman and his community-active wife in Peoria, Ill., developed breast cancer, and Suzy died from it at age 36 in 1980. Although she'd had a subcutaneous mastectomy two years before, her doctor did not follow through with chemotherapy or radiation. On a deathbed promise to her sister, Nancy (now Brinker) vowed to bring breast cancer out in the open, force people to "talk about it," and find funding for a cure. In this deeply thoughtful, assertive, sensitive memoir of the sisters' growing up and devotion to each other in life and death, Brinker chronicles the long path she trod to create Susan G. Komen for the Cure. With her marriage in 1981 to conservative Texas millionaire Norman Brinker, Nancy recognized she had a "platform" on which to build a foundation. High-profile breast-cancer cases such as Betty Ford's, Nancy Reagan's, and numerous others highlighted the cause, and in separate chapters Brinker delineates background and personal stories.