>newground
"Tulip Collage" by Sharon Rose Miller
In the book she hopes to publish, Sharon Rose Miller recalls the moment that forever changed her life:
The answering machine blinked and I hit the play button. Dr. Lee, the surgeon who did my biopsy two days ago said, “Sharon, please call my office as soon as possible.”
I called the office, was not put on hold, and got transferred to Dr. Lee immediately, who said she wanted me to come into her office for an appointment that very afternoon to talk with me.
“Just tell me now. Do I have cancer?” I demanded.
“I do not like sharing important news over the telephone when you are all alone,’ she said calmly.
I told her there was no way I could wait until this afternoon.
Finally, she told me. “Yes, Sharon, you have breast cancer. It is very serious.”
At the age of 36, Sharon Rose Miller lost nearly everything she had as she began her journey of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Yet her remarkable spirit, determination, and overwhelming generosity have blossomed with full force. And these qualities have enabled her to transform her life into a powerful and inspiring model for others.
“Don’t wait until you are retired to do what gives your life the most meaning,” she says with a voice that sounds so strong on the phone it is hard to connect it to a weakened body.
Sharon is following her own advice. She paints. She writes. She leads support groups for other young women with breast cancer. And she has made generous, heartfelt gifts to the two institutions that most powerfully changed her life.
One of these institutions is IU South Bend, to which Sharon is leaving a 401K account as part of her estate plan. She has designated the gift for undergraduate scholarships in the School of Business and Economics, with preference given to undergraduate women enrolled in the School.
“If I can help other women in circumstances that were similar to my own, then something good will come from my experience,” she says. “Education has been the tool I’ve used to fulfill my dreams.”
Sharon was a registered nurse before she decided to pursue a career in business. “Business,” she explains, “spoke to my drive and my ability. I loved marketing and the idea that you could be your own leader in a field with no limits.”
The comment does not overstate her qualities. She is a natural leader and loved being a manager. She became a regional manager for Merck and Company pharmaceuticals, which voted her the top manager in the country three years in a row. As an IU South Bend student, she earned the Wall Street Journal Award for the top undergraduate business student. As an MBA student at Notre Dame, she graduated second in her class, where she was one of five female students in a class of 40. More recently, the IUSB School of Economics and Business named her alumna of the year, an honor she considers among her “most special achievements.”
Now she is an artist and a leader in the Y-ME Breast Cancer Organization, the other association that had a great impact on her. She leads support groups for women faced with prospects like hers. She has even won a newly created award for her work and generous gifts to Y-ME, the Sharon Rose Miller Spirit Award. Her paintings, which are for sale, appear on an extensive website that is itself designed to help others. She donates the proceeds to Y-ME.
Her story, which she has called Breast Cancer Saved My Life, is about finding new and greater meaning in her life as a result of her suffering. While it looks unflinchingly at the physical and emotional havoc wrought by the disease and its treatment, it is full of humor, inspiration, and an overriding optimism:
Although the bodily assaults have taken their toll, I am grateful to still be alive after living with cancer for six years. Although my future is uncertain, I am confident the power of hope, prayer, and love will keep me alive. And just as the Y-ME counselor promised, cancer caused me to completely rebuild my life, and it is better.
Cancer gave me the impetus to leave a marriage that was slowly killing my spirit. Cancer caused me to search for and find my true love. I married him in June.
I am free of the profound loneliness that consumed much of my life. Cancer has truly saved my life.
>Liz Rosdeitcher
Soon after this story was published, Sharon passed away on December 12, 2004. Her memory lives on in her courage, her grace, and her legacy. We are grateful to Sharon Rose Miller for sharing her story with us, and deeply saddened by her passing.
—Editor
To make a memorial gift to the Sharon Rose Miller Scholarship Fund, e-mail IU South Bend Director of Development Jan Halperin at jhalperi@indiana.edu.
To read the whole excerpt, please go to http://www.sharonrose.org/book_excerpt.htm.
To view her paintings, please go to http://www.sharonrose.org/art+gallery.htm.