My work in advocacy was as unexpected as my breast cancer diagnosis. It was the women of SHARE who helped me in this journey. When I first walked through SHARE's door twenty years ago with a diagnosis that might have defeated me, I immediately felt a sense of empowerment. SHARE was and is a community where empathy, support and intelligent information overflow. My first support group there helped me adjust to my "new normal" and I later used that strength to facilitate many groups myself. The training I received was remarkable. With SHARE's guidance, I became politically active, lobbying in Washington DC and connecting to other advocates nationally, even inaugurating a breast cancer patient advocacy program in a New York hospital.