Diane Bieber Honored as a Woman of Distinction

“Working with oncology patients is the love of my life, beside my husband and kids,” said Denise Bieber, who has spent the last decade working with cancer patients at Loma Linda University Hospital. Her work with these patients and her record of volunteer services in Loma Linda’s community earned her the distinction last month as one of Assemblyman Mike Morrell’s (R-Rancho Cucamonga) Women of Distinction. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, Bieber—who has been cancer-free for 13 years after undergoing a mastectomy on her left breast, radiation and chemotherapy treatments—began volunteering with other cancer patients with the American Cancer Society to help them through their treatments. “I worked with the American Cancer Society and visited cancer patients in their homes after they underwent surgery, but after a while I wanted to do something different,” said Bieber. “Around the time I started working with Loma Linda University, the Big Hearts for Little Hearts program had just started, and then I started volunteering in oncology with children.” Bieber’s volunteer efforts led her to begin reading to the children in the hospitals, which then led her to visiting other cancer patients in the hospitals following their radiation and chemotherapy treatments. “The patients will usually talk about [the experience],” said Bieber. “It just helps to talk about it to someone who has gone through it.” Drawing on her own experience with breast cancer, which she discovered during a trip to the mountains she took with her husband Jerry, to whom she has been married for 54 years, and one of her grandchildren, Bieber said she was surrounded by “very supportive family and friends,” and that is what she wanted to give to other cancer patients. “It really makes you think about life in a different way,” Bieber said. Bieber, who has her Bachelor of Arts degree in education from California State University, San Bernardino, has dedicated over 770 hours of her time to volunteering with Loma Linda University Health, and continues to participate in the university’s Cancer Visitation program and the Cancer Tea Cart program, where she trains new volunteers in various other cancer programs. She will also volunteer with the university’s new Cancer Resource Center, which she explains will help in cancer diagnosis and treatment programs and is slated to open in the coming weeks. Additionally, Bieber also volunteers in the Big Hearts for Little Hearts program at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital; is a member of the Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Redlands Heritage; and celebrates her health and raises awareness for other cancer patients by participating each year with her husband in the annual Relay for Life events, an event she describes as “very emotional.” “They give everyone a medal,” she said. “It’s so cool. You’d think you were in the Olympics. When I got my first one, I cried. It feels so good to be able to say, ‘I’m healthy,’” she said. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family—her husband, three children and seven grandchildren—and being outside, where she plays tennis and works in her garden.