Today is the anniversary of my mom passing away from breast cancer. It’s the numbers that are getting hard to comprehend – 17 years seems unimaginable. I try to picture her as a 71 year old, merging her and my grandmother’s image in my mind but I just come back to her as she was at age 53. Lively, friendly eyes and a warm yet shy demeanor. Smart yet forever slightly flustered, raising four active kids and keeping my dad organized. She fought really hard against the breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver, enduring bone marrow transplants and extremely high dose chemo. In the end, it was just too much.
So much has changed since my mom was diagnosed in her 40s back in 1988. There are more treatment options, more targeted therapies and a lot more support for patients and survivors. Last night, Rethink Breast Cancer took over the Briar Hill Lululemon in Toronto and hosted Live Laugh Learn, our new monthly education and social networking evening for young women dealing with breast cancer. It was a lighter theme last night as we helped our young women get ready to “Style it Up for the Holidays.” Make-up maven, and breast cancer survivor, Maureen Greenstein had us in stitches as she dished out and demo-ed make-up and skin care strategies. (if you need to look extra pretty for an upcoming party, call Mo!) Afterwards, she and her team of glamour gals gave everyone a bit of glamour with mini make-up applications. Amalia Ruggieo from Truly You was on hand to help women figure out their hair needs just before, during and after chemo.
We had nibblies and sweet treats, wine and Evian and fancy tea and festive music. Lulu so kindly gave our guests a special shopping discount. No one wanted to leave! Enormous thank you to lululemon who donate the space and whose staff volunteers their time to stay afterhours for our program. Debbie and Idil so kindly let us stay extra late last night. It was so nice to not rush our women who just seemed so happy to be out mingling. And, everyone left looking gorgeous. Natural with just a bit of sparkle.
I know everyone knows lululemon but if you have a chance, check out their blog. Our experience with lululemon and Live Laugh Learn in both Calgary and Toronto has been fantastic. They are good people!
Once again, there were amazing stories of survivorship shared at Live Laugh Learn last night. Hopefully I can convince a few of the women to guest blog for us in the coming months so we can share their experiences with you all!
Best,
MJ
MJ DeCoteau, Executive Director of Rethink Breast Cancer
Here are a few photos from last night's event
So much has changed since my mom was diagnosed in her 40s back in 1988. There are more treatment options, more targeted therapies and a lot more support for patients and survivors. Last night, Rethink Breast Cancer took over the Briar Hill Lululemon in Toronto and hosted Live Laugh Learn, our new monthly education and social networking evening for young women dealing with breast cancer. It was a lighter theme last night as we helped our young women get ready to “Style it Up for the Holidays.” Make-up maven, and breast cancer survivor, Maureen Greenstein had us in stitches as she dished out and demo-ed make-up and skin care strategies. (if you need to look extra pretty for an upcoming party, call Mo!) Afterwards, she and her team of glamour gals gave everyone a bit of glamour with mini make-up applications. Amalia Ruggieo from Truly You was on hand to help women figure out their hair needs just before, during and after chemo.
We had nibblies and sweet treats, wine and Evian and fancy tea and festive music. Lulu so kindly gave our guests a special shopping discount. No one wanted to leave! Enormous thank you to lululemon who donate the space and whose staff volunteers their time to stay afterhours for our program. Debbie and Idil so kindly let us stay extra late last night. It was so nice to not rush our women who just seemed so happy to be out mingling. And, everyone left looking gorgeous. Natural with just a bit of sparkle.
I know everyone knows lululemon but if you have a chance, check out their blog. Our experience with lululemon and Live Laugh Learn in both Calgary and Toronto has been fantastic. They are good people!
Once again, there were amazing stories of survivorship shared at Live Laugh Learn last night. Hopefully I can convince a few of the women to guest blog for us in the coming months so we can share their experiences with you all!
Best,
MJ
MJ DeCoteau, Executive Director of Rethink Breast Cancer
Here are a few photos from last night's event
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