Helping Young Jewish Women with Breast Cancer

Written by Jan Jaben-Eilon Sunday, March 21 2010

Snapshot: Rochelle Shoretz
Rochelle Shoretz, executive director of Sharsheret and a two-time breast cancer survivor, founded Sharsheret (Hebrew for chain) in 2001 to connect young Jewish women fighting breast cancer following her own diagnosis at age 28. A Centennial Scholar graduate of Barnard College and a Kent Scholar graduate of Columbia Law School, Shoretz served as a law clerk in 1999 to United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

For her pioneering efforts in establishing Sharsheret, Shoretz was named a “Woman to Watch” by Jewish Woman Magazine and a Yoplait Champion in the Fight Against Breast Cancer and was honored by the Philadelphia affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Israel Cancer Research Foundation. As Sharsheret’s executive director, Shoretz lectures about breast cancer before audiences across the country and serves as a resource for major media on issues related to breast cancer in young women. She is a single parent of two boys, age 12 and 14.

Womenetics: What was it like to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg? How did you get that opportunity?
Shoretz: Justice Ginsburg has been an incredible role model for me and for generations of women. She was respectful of my role as a mother to two young children during the year of my clerkship, as she herself had juggled motherhood and the responsibilities of a demanding profession at the start of her career. I was fortunate to have been selected to serve as her clerk from a pool of extremely talented applicants.

Womenetics: How did you discover your breast cancer? What was the diagnosis and what kind of treatment did you go through? Also, when did it recur?
Shoretz: Not long after my clerkship, I discovered a lump in my right breast while I was changing into a bathing suit. I was 28 years old at the time and raising 3- and 5- year-old boys. I opted for a lumpectomy, followed by six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of daily radiation treatment. I was disease free for seven years before my doctors recognized another tumor in the same breast. Last year, I had a bilateral mastectomy and am now being treated for metastatic disease.

Womenetics: What gave you the idea to start Sharsheret?
Shoretz: Sharsheret began as our effort to connect young women with breast cancer who shared common concerns – questions about fertility after cancer treatment, parenting through cancer, dating and marriage, and life beyond breast cancer. After my own diagnosis, I struggled to find others close in age and experience with whom I could share my concerns and fears as a young mother, wife, and professional living with breast cancer.

Womenetics: How many women has Sharsheret connected? Why did you decide that connection was what women with breast cancer needed?
Shoretz: In just nine years, Sharsheret has responded to more than 19,000 inquiries and developed 10 national programs to support those diagnosed with or facing the risk of developing breast cancer. Sharsheret offers culturally sensitive support for Jewish women and families who are at increased risk of developing hereditary breast or ovarian cancer, which can be triggered by a mutation in the BRCA-1 or 2 genes. One in 40 Jews of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) descent are carriers of these mutations.

Womenetics: What is the most important advice you can give to a woman who learns she has breast cancer?
Shoretz: Find the professional care and support that feels comfortable to you. Although we all share common concerns, no two women face breast cancer in exactly the same way. Interview potential health care providers and support organizations until you find the team that offers the quality of information and emotional support that will give you the tools and strength to help you through your individual journey.

Womenetics: Are you at all sorry that you haven’t followed a legal career?
Shoretz: I enjoyed my career as a practicing attorney and will always treasure memories of my incredible clerkships. I use the skills I gleaned in law school and law practice in my every day responsibilities in spearheading a national organization. Although I didn't plan for cancer – none of us do – I found in this journey a meaningful opportunity to apply my legal training in the not-for-profit sector.

Womenetics: What hobbies do you have? What do you do for fun?
Shoretz: I love walking and exercise almost every day. I began serious workouts after my first cancer diagnosis in an effort to stay healthy. I now walk between 20 and 30 miles each week. I'm the "Forest Gump" of walking in our family!

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Jan Jaben-Eilon was a founding staff writer of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Since then, she has been the international editor of Advertising Age magazine and has written for such publications as The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Journalism Review, and Consumer Reports. She is the author of soon-to-be-published (There is) Life After Cancer. Jan and her husband have homes in Atlanta and Jerusalem.