Note to reader: I was brainstorming the other day and came up with very un-unique idea to write a series of articles, connecting the stories and different issues that LGBT community faces in real life. I thought it would be cool to reminiscence about The L Word and educate myself, and hopefully the readers, about the current state of the LGBT issues.

By B&TF

Recently, I had my first scare with the breast cancer. I got my annual mammogram and was told to come back for more exams and ultrasound because they found a few suspiciously-looking nodules. I had to wait a week for another appointment and it was nerve-wrecking.

Breast cancer is real. According to some statistics, one in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in their lifetime. Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk. Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

Okay, the breast cancer is not strictly a lesbian issue but it’s a very important women’s issue. And to be fair, I must mention that it occurs in both women and men, albeit male breast cancer is very rare. According to Breast Cancer Institute, estimated new cases from breast cancer in the United States in 2009 is 192,370 (female), including 40,170 deaths; 1,910 (male), including 440 deaths.

When Dana’s breast cancer story was introduced on the show, I don’t think anyone believed that Dana – witty, dorky, adorable, shy and beautiful Dana – would actually die. The fans were shocked when it happened to one of the most popular characters in episode 310. Many Dana fans stopped watching the show and Ilene Chaiken said that she got a lot of hate mail from a number of frustrated fans.

I went to several events in the last few years where Ilene Chaiken appeared and almost every time someone asked her a question about Dana’s death and the breast cancer story. At one event Ilene explained that when she met with other writers in the beginning of season three, they wanted to tell a story about the breast cancer because a lot of them went through some loss with family members and friends. They decided that the most powerful way to tell this story was by using a character that was healthy and took care of her body so the outcome would be the most shocking. And it was shocking.

However, Ilene said that she had no idea that the reaction of the fans would be so overwhelming and that the grief for their beloved character would be so profound. It was no surprise that since then Ilene admitted several times that she believes it was an important story to tell but if she had a foresight about the fans’ reaction, she would never kill Dana off. Dana’s death was Ilene’s only regret about the show.

As some of you might remember, in November 2006, when the cast of The L Word accepted a “Ribbon of Hope” award for their contribution to the Breast Cancer Awareness, Ilene Chaiken mentioned in her acceptance speech that they were actually approached by the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation that offered their collaboration to portray a breast cancer story on the show. Dr. Love even appeared on the show as herself in one of the episodes.

Ilene said that she was contacted “to see if perhaps The L Word might want to participate in supporting the work of Dr. Susan Love and the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. As it turned out, Dr. Love supported our efforts to tell Dana’s story. She met with us and discussed it, she read and annotated every one of our scripts, she spoke often to Erin about what Dana would be experiencing both medically and emotionally…”

Then she joked that “only in The L Word universe Dana’s best friend Alice would of course have access to the most wanted specialist in the country…”

Ilene then continued her speech as she said that Dr. Love “never let us down. I hope it’s because in some small way helping us to tell this story was consistent with the mission of her Foundation to eradicate breast cancer in our lifetime.”

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Dr. Susan Love is often referred to as a founder of the breast cancer advocacy movement, and her best-selling books, Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book and Dr. Susan Love’s Menopause and Hormone Book, have become valuable sources of information for women regarding breast cancer and menopause.

Dr. Susan Love has her Official Website where anyone can learn about breast cancer and its prevention, about Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and many different aspects of her work as a surgeon and a clinical professor.

Dr. Love stated on her website in the biographical section, “I have spent my whole life working in the field of breast cancer. At this point I am frustrated that we are still doing the same treatments with about the same results as when I started thirty years ago. Now that we can get to where breast cancer starts we have the opportunity to eradicate it. I am excited and impatient. The road is clear. We can go slowly or quickly, but everyday that we delay another 592 women will be diagnosed and 110 will die. The cost is too high to hesitate. This is our job not our daughters, granddaughters, nieces or nephews. We can do it and we have to do it.”

Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation is devoted to a cancer prevention research study that includes not only findings from the research on women with breast cancer but also its research on women who do not have it. Dr. Love said, “My fantasy is that one of these days we’ll find a marker in the fluid—maybe a protein, a mutation—and then we’ll be able to massage a drop of fluid out of the breast, dipstick it, and if it turns blue, go to the doctor, figure out what duct it is in, put treatment into the duct, and be done. It’s very clear to me that that’s how we’re going to get rid of breast cancer. I don’t want to find a cure. I want to have it not happen.”

Dr. Susan Love is, indeed, a very remarkable woman and the hope is there that her Foundation will be able to fulfill its mission and not just to find the cure for breast cancer but find the ways to prevent it. And a lot of the success also depends on women themselves.

The story that was told by The L Word in season three was real and, although many fans missed Dana a lot and were happy to see Erin Daniels back for one episode even as a ghost, I think the breast cancer story was important. I just wish it wasn’t Dana who died.

P.S. By the way, I was watching a new episode of “So You Think You Can Dance” while I was writing this article and one of the couples performed a dance piece about the breast cancer. It was beautiful and powerful; everyone cried because of the beautiful choreography and important message. I thought that it was such an interesting coincidence that this particular dance and my writing were happening at the same time…perhaps it was a sign.

P.P.S. And, if anyone’s interested, it turned out that I was okay after the second exam but I’m going to continue getting my mammograms every year just to be safe.