Sallie Burdine was diagnosed with Stage IV advanced breast cancer in July of 1998, there were thirty-two malignant breast cancer tumors involved along with the cancer metastasising to her bones. She had just begun her career as a writer when cancer invaded her life. On the day of her diagnosis, she mailed her finished manuscript, entitled Midlife Women UNPLUGGED�."at last!" to her agent in New York. As Sallie underwent chemotherapy for her metastasized breast cancer, she sought daily to find the blessings in her curse, which became the catalyst for a new book called, Who Needs Hair� the flipside of chemotherapy.

Sallie's mother and sister are breast cancer survivors. Sallie lived with her husband, Hank, and their three children, Matt, Ben and Alden, in Bluewater Bay, Florida. Sallie wrote another book called, The Surprising Blessings in Cancer before her death in February of 2003.

On the night following Sallie's death her twelve year old daughter ask her daddy, "Why did God give Mama cancer?" The answer, "God had been training her Mama since she was a little girl to have the exuberance and vitality for life to share with everyone she came in contact with. God realized that she did such an overwhelmingly great job at sharing he allowed her to get cancer so that she could touch the lives and hearts of the many of thousands of people through her books.

It is the belief of The Sallie Astor Burdine Breast Foundation that God sent her to complete her mission with The EEH Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Center.

"It is here at the SABBF that it begins as a dream and it will end with a cure."
Robert L. Elliott M.D. Ph.D

"I don't believe that Sallie considered herself special or set apart. Saints and Angels never do, they usually live on this earth in the guise of ordinary people. Little did we know that an angel walked among us, leaving her footprints on all of our hearts."
Totty Bishop

"We are all richer for knowing Sallie Astor Burdine"
Mary Ellen McNamara
Sallie Astor Burdine Foundation | 17050 Medical Center Drive | Baton Rouge, LA 70816 | 225.755.1174 P | 225.755.1189 F