2011 survivor profile: Beth Gold Cohen

Beth Gold Cohen had witnessed cancer’s devastation first-hand, watching her husband battle Hodgkin’s Disease twice in the early 1980s. Fortunately, he beat the disease, and his example served her well when she was diagnosed with stage 3 metastatic breast cancer in 2006.

“I took strength from the fact that he had survived,” says Gold Cohen, who has been in remission for five years. His support, along with that of her two daughters, gave her the faith that she would also be a survivor. “I woke up every day and said to myself, ‘Today is the first day of the rest of my life, and there is no time to waste’.”

Breast cancer had a much unexpected silver lining for Gold Cohen: After gaining weight from her treatments, the former Macy’s buyer sewed together her favorite leggings with the upper portion of a pair of control-top pantyhose. Her idea gave birth to a highly successful business: Lissé Leggings, named after the French word for smooth. She gives a portion of sales to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Sass Foundation for Medical Research.

“Breast cancer was the scariest thing that ever happened to me, but it also changed me in positive ways,” says Gold Cohen. “Now, I don’t let fear stop me.”