Jane Brattain Breast Center > About us > Who is Jane Brattain?

Who is Jane Brattain?

Women frequently tell us how comfortable they are at Park Nicollet Jane Brattain Breast Center. Why do women who are undergoing such a stressful experience feel this way? Perhaps because the center was designed by women, for women. Perhaps because the person whose name appears on the door knows what women with breast cancer go through.

Jane and her husband, Don, already had donated money to Park Nicollet Clinic when they decided in 1991 to pay for a state-of-the-art biopsy machine – the first of its kind in Minnesota. Jane and Don were enthusiastic about technology that promised to perform biopsies quicker and with less pain than previous models.

Shortly after the machine was delivered, Jane became the first person to use it. During a routine physical, Jane had a mammogram that revealed a suspicious area on her breast.  A biopsy, performed using the new system, revealed a cancerous growth. The lump was removed and Jane underwent radiation treatment. 

More than 10 years later, Jane is free of cancer. But she will never forget the emotional impact of her experience.

“The first thing I thought of was my 4-year-old daughter,” she says. “I wanted to be there to watch her grow up. I focused on my family during my treatment. But later, I looked outward. That’s when Don and I decided we wanted to do something worthwhile to help the next generation of women fight breast cancer.”

That “something worthwhile” includes playing a pivotal role in building the original breast center that bears her name and donating funds for a new biopsy machine. 

Jane is thrilled to provide new technology to women with breast cancer. But she also knows that emotional comfort is an important part of treatment. That is why Jane is proud to have helped bring a sculpture titled “Daughter of My Heart” to the center lobby.

“I met with an artist named Heidi Hoy who wanted to know my real feelings about breast cancer,” says Jane. “I told her: hope, fear and a desire to protect our daughters. She created a sculpture of a child looking into her mother’s eyes with all the faith and trust in the world. The mother wraps her arms protectively around her daughter and looks off in the distance to gather strength.”

As women sit in the center’s lobby, they can be reassured by state-of-the-art technology. They also can draw comfort and strength from the sculpture. It is one of the intangibles that women with breast cancer understand. Women like the one whose name appears on the front door.

For more information, call Jane Brattain Breast Center at 952-993-3700.