Women who have been diagnosed really do have opinions about this. It is seen as a curse by a few but as a gift by many. How is it possible that someone would refer to such a hazardous and life-altering experience as a gift? Well, the answer lies in those words: "life altering."

I'm among those women who have seen her breast cancer diagnoses (yes, two of them) as gifts and have personally come to appreciate the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual pearls it can provide. You may be surprised that even some women who knew they would lose their lives to this disease saw it as a gift - because, through their journey, they may have bonded their disjointed family back together again, they may have truly stopped to smell the flowers, they may have learned to see each day as unique and wondrous.

When I first got the news that I had this disease, I certainly didn't see it as a present. I was scared, probably because as an oncology nurse I knew too much. And I was distressed and worried that I might not be able to beat it, not from a lack of motivation or access to good medical care but simply from the fear that I would become too sick to recover.

Once I had gotten past the acute treatment and could see light at the end of what had seemed a long, dark tunnel, I began reflecting on the journey. After a time, I made a conscious decision that I wanted to learn from this experience. I vowed to leave a mark on this Earth that was meaningful and to develop ways to make the treatment experience of women diagnosed after me less physically and emotionally traumatic.

Those choices and decisions led me to the Johns Hopkins Breast Center, where I eventually became the director. Right now, I live and breathe this disease. I chair a national task force that is creating national quality standards for the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, so that all women in the U.S. will receive quality care, no matter where they are treated.

So, if you've been diagnosed, after a while did you come to see it as a blessing or a curse? Has the experience changed the way you view each day? Have you decided how you want to leave your mark, making things better for others in some way, whether related to breast cancer or connected to some other passion?

Eleanor Roosevelt once made a statement that I love: "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called 'the present.'"