Author Description

Annette Leal Mattern serves on the board of directors of Cancer Care Resources, a charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for cancer patients in the Portland, Oregon, community. She lectures nationwide to raise awareness of prevention and early detection, as well as sharing her inspirational story for charitable fund raising events. During her previous career as a leader with Fortune 100 companies, Annette received numerous national and international awards for bringing enlightenment on the value of a multicultural workplace. For over a decade, she led the development of educational and rural health care initiatives while advocating for parity of internet access between different socioeconomic strata. Annette also serves on the board of directors for INROADS, a non-profit group that develops and places talented minority youth and she is an advisor to numerous student mentoring programs. She has been published in Hispanic Engineer and numerous technology periodicals. She received her training in communications and marketing from Southwest Texas State University, University of Texas, the Kennedy School of Government - Harvard and the Advanced Management College at Stanford University. Her major undertaking since her recovery is to minimize the stigma of living with cancer and she has dedicated a portion of her book sales to Cancer Care Resources/Northwest Cancer Specialists Foundation to further this cause. Annette and her husband, Rich, share a home on a lake in the Pacific Northwest where they spend considerable time with their grandchildren, Chris, Jon, Anna, Max, Alex, Katie, Laura, Kelly, and Allison, for whom they have an abundance of love. Book jacket.