ROSALIND MACPHEE has much to be happy about these days, given her circumstances, &y Layne Christensen Community Reporter MacPhee was awarded the 1995 Canadian Authors — Association (CAA) Literary Award for Non-fic- tion for her first non-fiction work, Picasso's Woman: A Breast Cancer Story, published by Douglas & Melntyre, And though her cancer has spread and was diagnosed in her lungs last October, she feels she’s holding her own with the disease. “I'm feeling very well, all things considered,” said the Lions Bay resi- dent from .her home on Monday. “And it’s so nice to be able tu say that and mean it,” she added with a chuck- le. MacPhee, a paramedic who has -authored three books of poetry, was ‘ diagnosed with breast cancer in early : 1991. Her journey through diagnosis, : treatment and recovery is chronicled in Picasso's Woman, For MacPhee, who was leading an active life at the time — working, kayaking, hiking, pursuing a fine arts degree, spending time with friends, her husband and two teenaged daugh- ters — diagnosis and treatment brought profound changes to her life. Moreover, the writing of the book pushed her into a new role, that of an activist. The unsettling statistics she became aware of while researching the disease (one in nine women in North America will be diagnosed: with breast cancer) prompted her to = Give always — liked adventures, Adventures are about being brave, fighting back, and keeping, your wits about you. Adventures are about tak- ing control. Survival. | believe that, in any adven- ture, who people are can be determined not by what happens to them but by how they deal with it. 55 _ Picasso's Woman by Rosalind MacPhee | share her story. “There’s ‘a mission involved what "in doing,” she said. “f have been given the time and energy and I'm wying to use my own abilities to tum this disease around not just for myself:and my daughters but for all the women: who haven't had that opportunity.” To MacPhee, Picasso’s Woman is not just 4 breast cancer story. “It’s a story about a woman's life,” to which readers have connected. “The response has’ been remark- able. I'm still getting letters — absolutely beautiful letters. I’ve been so touched by it.” And the fetters come not- from just women with breast cancer, she added. The book, which has sold 3,000 copies since its release last October, Wiews priets ’ A 40-YEAR-OLD West Vancouver man was fined $3, ooo on May 19 in connection with three charges of failing submit income tax returns, George Erschbamer pleaded guilty te the charges involving tax returns for 1990, 1991 and 1992, According to the charges, Erschbamer was asked to file the returns by Feb. 25, 1994, March 4, 1994 and March 10, 1994 respectively. Judge Jerome Paradis fined - ‘Erschbamer in North Vancouver provincial court. 3 locations ~ the north Shore DEEP COVE Dollarton Shopping Centre 407 N. Dollarton Hwy. 924-1251 “Celebrity Blinds. NeV vou Desk LONSDALE 3rd & Lansdale 136 West 3rd. St. 988-6344 WEST VAN Central Ambleside 1471B Clyde Ave. 925-2833 TONSDALE aa a Pita Srerweate is proving popular with readers from all watks of Tite. Picasso's Woman will be transhat- ed inte German and Norwegian for distribution in those countries next year and into Hebrew for distribution in Israel Kodansha, an) American book publisher, will release the book in the U.S. in the spring. In Canada, Douglas & Mefntyre will reissue the book in paperback in August. While MacPhee is pleased at the response to her book, she hopes the word is getting out that society is a Jong way from finding a cure to breast cancer. “We've been in the dark ages about this disease for a very long time,” she said. MacPhee plans to continue in her role as an activist for breast cancer awareness. But the reality of her dis- euse is that she must temper activity with rest and treatment. “One day J’m ready to take on the world and the next day [ can‘t put one foot in front of the next,” she said. But overall, “The reality of being terminally ill is that you live life with greater resolve.” To that end, MacPhee plans to attend the awards banquet and win- ners’ readings at the CAA conference in Victoria next week, In July she will travel to Winnipeg to tape a special program on breast cancer for the Wonnen’s Television Network. And in January, MacPhee will cel- ebrate her 50th birthday. On this milestone, that not everyone looks forward to reaching, she said, “I don’t dread it at all.” In February the village of Lions Bay honored MacPhee with a citizen of distinction award. NEWS photo Cindy Goodman LONGTIME LIONS Bay resident Resalind MacPhee continues to receive praise for her 1994 non-fiction work, Picasso's Wornan. (CP MMRAPIDLUBE $ DRIVE-THRU Oil. 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