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Breast Dancer

Help publish "Breast Dancer," an uplifting book for people journeying along the wild and wooly road of cancer -- to help them know they are not alone.

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Breast Dancer

Breast Dancer

Breast Dancer

Breast Dancer

Breast Dancer

Help publish "Breast Dancer," an uplifting book for people journeying along the wild and wooly road of cancer -- to help them know they are not alone.

Help publish "Breast Dancer," an uplifting book for people journeying along the wild and wooly road of cancer -- to help them know they are not alone.

Help publish "Breast Dancer," an uplifting book for people journeying along the wild and wooly road of cancer -- to help them know they are not alone.

Help publish "Breast Dancer," an uplifting book for people journeying along the wild and wooly road of cancer -- to help them know they are not alone.

Joyce Parry Moore
Joyce Parry Moore
Joyce Parry Moore
Joyce Parry Moore
2 Campaigns |
Livermore, United States
$1,540 USD 25 backers
61% of $2,500 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Choose your Perk

Thank You

$1 USD
1 claimed

Get Famous!

$10 USD
1 claimed

Tickled Pink

$25 USD
3 claimed

Breast Friend

$50 USD
12 out of 60 of claimed

Totes Kaffee

$100 USD
4 out of 15 of claimed

Run for Your Life

$150 USD
0 out of 10 of claimed

Diva in Training

$300 USD
0 out of 10 of claimed

Command Performance

$600 USD
0 out of 5 of claimed
Highlights
Mountain Filled 2 Projects Mountain Filled 2 Projects

Help us publish Breast Dancer, an uplifting book for people journeying along the wild and wooly road of cancer — to help them know that they are not alone. 

About Breast Dancer

I wrote Breast Dancer just after I completed treatments for breast cancer.  Even though I lived in Alaska, I had a great support group of friends — distance runners and survivors— who walked the road with me. 

Here is an excerpt from the book . . .

Breast Journey Step 16 – North to the Yukon

 . . . Some of the heartiest laughs I’ve ever produced, deep and loud and unselfconscious, were with Team Survivor Perseverance, on the Klondike International Road Relay.

Despite our ironclad motto — “What happens on the Klondike stays on the Klondike” — I must share some of the unforgettable moments I’ve spent dancing with these gals on a grassy dance floor under a humid tent in Whitehorse, Yukon. Together we listened with glee to one laid back Canadian band after another, celebrating Life in a way that only Survivors can, having kicked death’s ass and happy to tell the tale. These women distinguished the important (friendship, kindness, passion) from the
unimportant (perfection, guilt and housecleaning). These were Survivors who had
been up all night, running for miles through the mountain passes, and who were
now full of both endorphins and watery beer.

  Especially memorable was the year before I myself had been diagnosed. Appointed fashion consultant for the team, I’d arranged pink boas for each member to wear to the dance and award ceremony. As we danced and the tent became increasingly,
humanly humid, the pink feathers began sticking to all our glistening faces and
arms. For some of these friends, having recently endured the indignities of
surgery and hair loss, these feathery adornments recaptured the first touch of
their lost femininity.

Jan hatched the lovely idea to pass on the boas to anyone with a new diagnosis, and
so the feathers have made their way around the state and the country, with our
sweat and our music still clinging to them, to bring joy and hope to other
women.

Running — and the bold, fearless women who do it — saw me strongly through this odyssey and prepared me for those to come. As with singing, the sheer joy of surrendering myself to the Road, and the satisfaction of giving my all as part of a team, contains some of the deepest spiritual lessons of my life. During radiation fatigue, my motivation to get out the door and run came from my commitment to this team.

 

Why We Need Your Support

It has taken seven years, and many edits, and now we are finally ready to go to print. I keep thinking that perhaps they will find a cure, and that breast cancer will become a thing of the past, but so far, that has not happened. Just last month, I met a woman at a resort on the San Juan Islands who had just finished her treatments, and we shared our stories, and laughed, and cried just a bit. She is waiting for this book to be published. But first, we need your help.

We have included the lyrics to several songs in Breast Dancer. Some music publishers have generously donated the rights to use their lyrics, but for 12 songs, the publishing companies require that we pay a fee. We also have some stock imagery costs related to the cover, and getting the word out about the book. I’d like to record it too, for those people in chemotherapy for whom reading is not so easy, but who might like to listen to my melodious voice. If you contribute to this campaign, then the women who are waiting — for a laugh, for a story, for a dance — can get a copy of this book to set on their bedside table, for those nights when they can’t sleep, and just need to make connection.

Whether or not you can donate, please consider sending this information along to friends and family.

Thank you for your help, and may your life be blessed with health and dancing!

Stretch Goals

All of the editing and book layout work for Breast Dancer has been done pro bono. We’ve set a conservative goal for this campaign, to cover the music rights and the costs associated with self-publishing in e-book and printed formats.

If we are fortunate enough to exceed our goal of $2,500, the additional funding will go toward purchasing books for women who can’t afford them. We’ve got some festive perks to thank our donors, and most importantly, you will get that good feeling that you are helping someone through a difficult time. Survivors come in all ages, sizes, and demographics. Who knows — someday, that person just may be you.

If we do not meet our goal, we will purchase as many reprint permissions as possible, and publish Breast Dancer in a slightly abridged form.  We think all the lyrics are important to the story, but we'll make some hard choices in order to get this book out and into the hands of people who need it. 


About Joyce

The Reverend Joyce Parry Moore is an Episcopal Priest, ordained by the Diocese of Alaska, and serving in the Diocese of California where Mother Joyce serves as at the rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church in Livermore. Meanwhile, she is earning her Doctorate of Ministry degree in Pastoral Counseling. Her dissertation project focuses on providing continued healing through creative arts for women and families affected by cancer.

In 2006, faced with a diagnosis of breast cancer, Joyce had the opportunity to sing Verdi’s Requiem with the Juneau Symphony in Alaska. Mother Joyce recorded her feelings about the healing power of music, and her This I Believe essay aired NPR’s The Bob Edwards Show on August 9, 2013.

Joyce lives in Livermore, CA with her husband, the youngest of her five children of a blended family (shaken, not stirred), their two dogs, two birds and two lizards. You may contact Rev. Parry Moore at jparrymoore@gmail.com to order copies of the book when it is actually published, or to share your stories of healing and surviving.

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