Writing the book on breast cancer

By Kenneth Partridge
Staff Writer
Greenwich Post
November 2, 2006

   When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, Julia Chiappetta
reacted more like a meeting planner – her job for many years—than a patient.  “OK, I’m just going to approach this like any other project,” the Greenwich native remembers thinking.
No stranger to strict deadlines and 75-hour workweeks, Ms. Chiappetta hit the books an scoured the Internet, devouring articles about healthy living and acquainting herself with the world’s leading cancer-care facilities. 
Much of the information she collected is now contained in Breast Cancer-the notebook, a resource guide she wrote and published for people dealing with the disease.
She said she is hoping to spare others all the hard work she did after learning of her illness.
“I just want to share some of this information with other women,” she said.  “I’m not a doctor.  I’m not an expert.  I’m just a girl who had breast cancer.”
If Ms. Chiappetta is passionate about her research and eager to spread what she’s learned, it’s probably because of how well it paid off.
Based on her reading, she flew to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for treatment and during her initial consultation, she met with a team of doctors and nurses who put together a personalized strategy for healing.
“It was like have a business plan for your body,” Ms. Chiappetta said.
She had a lumpectomy surgery but decided to forgo radiation and a mastectomy, a decision she said some local doctors questioned.
She threw away all of her makeup, cleaning products and food—anything with unnatural ingredients. 
“I started fresh,” she said.  “I made my environment green.”
About 10% to 15% of all breast cancers patients at M.D. Anderson opt for” natural protocol” treatments like the one she chose, Ms. Chiappetta said.  She insists they work only for people who are able to overhaul their lives and cut out the stress, as well as harmful chemicals.
“It requires dedication,” she said.  “It was really hard to do.”
Now that she’s done it, though committing herself to juices and vegan cuisine, she said she feels better than ever.  Six years after her diagnosis, she remains cancer-free.
“It wound up being the most amazing experience for me,” she said.      
She likened her physical renaissance to that of a withering plant regaining its strength and color.
“That’s how my  body felt,” she said, “I could feel my body healing.”
With a new perspective on life, she quit being an event planner and moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where a friend offered her a consulting job at a company that provides physical therapy for the elderly.
She began working with Alzheimer’s sufferers and homebound people living off Social Security, some barely able to feed themselves.
“Once you start getting into the community like that, the business and benevolence go hand-in-hand,” she said. 
It was while she was in Florida that she got the idea for her book, thought she didn’t pursue it in earnest until her consulting contract ran out.
Since she had never published before, Ms. Chiappetta found it difficult to attract interest from the book companies.  She eventually decided to put it out herself, writing the text with the help of Dr. Merrick Ross, one of the specialists she worked with in Houston.
In particular, Dr. Ross helped with the glossary section, which contains complex medical terms most non-doctors have never seen.
“It was very hard to make a definition for words that were easy to understand,” she said. 
Not merely a medical guide, the book also has information about healthy eating, products to avoid and online resources to consult.  Chapter 26 features a recipe for  “Julia’s shake for life,” a beverage Ms. Chiappetta whipped up for a recent segment on Channel 12 news.
“I wanted it to be encouraging,” she said of the book.  “I wanted it to be a gift.”
She also wants it to be a springboard.  She says her larger plans is to raise money for the Pink Fund, a group committed to helping cancer sufferers make mortgage payments, care for kids and do other things the disease has made difficult, if not impossible.
Large organizations like the American Cancer Society do an excellent job raising money for new drugs and treatments, she said, but they don’t offer financial assistance on a local level.
“In the middle of the circle, you’ve got families—women, men, husbands, and mothers—that are crying out for help,” she said.
Whenever she goes back to Houston for checkups, she said she sees women who have had their lives destroyed by the disease, many having lost their husbands and their jobs.
“I want to help these people,” she said.  I don’t think there’s enough of that going on in the world.”
In the meantime, though, she’s trying to get the word out about her book.  She’s doing all of her own public relations work and living in an apartment her parents own—a necessity, since her Florida apartment was  completely destroyed last year by Hurricane Wilma.
“I’m living on the edge, just trying to get the information out,” she said. 
So far, she said, response to the book has been positive.  She was recently approached by a make breast cancer patient who was happy to see a book not covered in pink, and she’s been receiving e-mails from women all over the country, thanking her for her insight.
She said she likes getting to know people and helping them get through tough times.
“The only thing I hope to give, besides the book, is love and encouragement,” she said, “That’s who I am.”
Ms. Chiappetta’s book is available at Just Books, Too in Old Greenwich and Borders in Norwalk.  For more information, visit
Breastcancer-thenotebook.com or ThePinkFund.org.