Seventh Senate District Constituent Spotlight

Adelphi Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline Volunteer Marcie Rosenberg of  Great Neck

We are blessed here in the Seventh Senate District to have residents who do amazing things, who have impact the lives of others in such a positive way that they make such a big difference.

One of those residents in Marcie Rosenberg of Great Neck, who volunteers for the Adelphi Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline. Read Marcie's story, eloquently written by Lyn Dobrin:

Is there an upside to cancer? Ask Great Neck’s Marcie Rosenberg and she will say yes.

“The upside is that they found it,” she says. “There are people who don’t go to doctors and their breast cancer is not found until it is too late. Better to find it and deal with it. I consider myself quite fortunate.”

There is a chance that Marcie might not have been so lucky. Six years ago, after her annual mammogram, her radiologist said he saw something that should be watched for six months. Receiving the report, her internist said it’s probably nothing but suggested she see a breast surgeon, just in case.

When she went to breast surgeon Karen Kostroff, the doctor said, yes, that’s nothing, but look at this, pointing to another spot on the x-ray. She immediately sent Marcie to the radiology center across the street for a needle biopsy, asking them to stay open even though it was just about time to close.

Marcie expected the worse and it came when Dr. Kostroff called and told her she had booked her for surgery the next week. “Based on Dr Kostroff’s urgency, I was prepared for the diagnosis.”

Marcie is a realist. “I don’t ask ‘why me?’ Instead, she reasons, “’Why not me?’” Although it turns out that Marcie is not positive for the breast cancer heredity gene, her maternal grandmother had breast cancer, coincidentally at the same age.

Right from the beginning she felt fortunate that the breast cancer had been found. “We all know a lot of people who have breast cancer who are fine.”

She wonders at her acceptance of life’s curve balls. “Perhaps it’s my Buffalo stock,” she jokes, referring to the city where she lived until after college when she came downstate to settle here on Long Island. For the past 15 years she has been the director of development at Tilles Center for Performing Arts in Greenvale.

Five years ago, Marcie brought her calm steadiness to the Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline where she is a volunteer. She says that many of the women are calling immediately after diagnosis and they need to connect with someone who’s been through it. “I try to make them feel comfortable and they often say they feel much better after talking.”

(Need to talk to someone about breast cancer?Call the Adelphi NY Statewide Breast cancer Hotline at 800-877-8077.)