Meet Leora

Words. In the first grade Leora Sparapani Dowling learned their power. Words could make people laugh or could lacerate, they could educate and entertain, they could inform and intrigue—and words could get a girl into trouble.

Leora remembers her first grade teacher putting tape over her six-year-old mouth to keep her quiet. That worked only until the tape came off. She’s been talking—and teaching—ever since.

A career in radio was the perfect first choice. She was the producer of a nationally syndicated radio program, a film critic, a news director, and the girl in the boy/girl morning team who refused to play dumb.

But radio was limiting. Playing the ‘Pina Colada’ song for the thousandth time wasn’t making the world a better place, nor was using her voice to sell cars. She remembers, “I was a pessimist before I became a news director, so the daily drumbeat of cruelty and suffering really started to affect me.” It was definitely time for a change.

So Leora got sober and fit. She went back to school. She started writing again.

And her love of words brought her to a new and deeply rewarding career—teaching.

She began studying martial arts and Eastern philosophy. And became a personal fitness trainer to help others feel and look their best.

She credits all these studies, her teachers, fellow students, friends and husband with helping her find and cultivate a positive attitude, inner strength, acceptance, patience, perseverance, courage, and compassion.

All these attributes came in handy when, while working as a college professor in Vermont, she received the news we all dread—a diagnosis of breast cancer. Fortunately, her prognosis was good, and the months of treatment, although arduous, proved to be another opportunity for growth and insight.

And for more change.

Leora says:

During my cancer treatments I came to see how fortunate I was in every way. I met and benefited from the kindness of strangers, and I discovered I had friends and family who loved me in a way I hadn’t ever understood or appreciated before. I also saw a lot of people who were scared and suffering, and who hadn’t come to terms with their cancer or their lives. I found fulfillment in reaching out to them in any way I could.

Cancer helped me gain a more expansive and reassuring sense of perspective about my life, my body, and my place on the planet. During the long winter of cancer treatments I realized I had to keep teaching, but that my subject matter had to change. I knew I now had to try to help others rediscover their sense of perspective too.

Leora Dowling has learned the power of words. She will continue to use them in the most positive way she can.