Cancer Survivor Gets Second Chance
By: Ileane Rudolph

Take the "Real World" minus the sex, add some grown-up problems and lots of weeping, and you've got "Starting Over", the daytime reality show featuring six women looking for a fresh start. This week, the syndicated series focuses on the return of plucky roommate Allison, the single, 38-year-old executive assistant who moved into the Starting Over manse last year after battling breast cancer. Still "bald and burned" from chemotherapy and radiation, Allison had hoped the show's visiting life coaches would help her get on with her life. But during taping, Allison was dealt another blow. She discovered she had a high-risk cancer gene that could mean surgery to remove her other breast and reproductive organs. She's back at the house now, she says, both to deal with the repercussions from that surgery and to support other cancer-stricken women. "So many have reached out to me," she says. "It's affirmed every day that I went to the right place for my healing, and I hope to help others heal themselves as well."

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