I was diagnosed in the fall of '01, turned to LBBC first, and felt like I had found my guardian angels. Eight years later LBBC is still my main resource for education, information and support. The LBBC staff is incredibly caring, compassionate, and helpful. Their approach to women is so personal...you feel as if you're their only client, and as if your issues and concerns are the most important ones. How they do this is a mystery to me, given the size of this organization! All of LBBC's events and materials are framed hopefully and positively (e.g., annual conferences, Helpline, teleconferences,and publications). They are incredibly attuned to a philosophy of hope. (At one of the early conferences I attended, one of the speakers posted a chart with outcomes in percentages attached to specific diagnoses...not my idea of positive and hopeful. When I gave my feedback about this to the staff, they had already noted this and were already planning to give feedback to the speaker.) Whenever I felt most hopeless I just reached out to LBBC and left feeling like I could conquer this disease, or at least be around for a lot longer than I was fearing. Their Helpline volunteers and staff helped me sort through decisions about surgeries and treatments, and did this with incredible empathy, honesty and compassion. I obviously can't say enough about LBBC. I was lucky to know about them at the time of my diagnosis, and it's been my great fortune to have them in my life ever since.