Friday, August 03, 2007

A Portrait of Courage

A friend and former colleague was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She is halfway through her chemo treatment, and it's not much fun. On Thursday August 2 a group of 25 women (some of whom are breast cancer survivors themselves) had a gathering, brought food, and enjoyed one another's company on a beautiful, sunny day in our hostess' backyard. Giving our treasured friend support, celebrating the halfway mark, and a few meaningful gifts was a small tribute to her. Come to our party; you'll have a good time there, too!

26 comments:

  1. It is wonderful that the phrase "cancer survivors" is a commonly used phrase today. Hopefully it will become even more common in the future ... Sorry to hear about the bridge collapse and lose of life in Minneapolis.

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  2. She looks like she has a love of life that will help her through this ordeal. I hope so!!

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  3. c'est un beau portrait pour un combat tres dur. on peut rever bientot d'un monde où le cancer aurait disparu.En France, on l'appelle "Le Crabe".

    it is a beautiful portrait for a very hard combat. one can dream soon of a world where cancer would have disappeared. In France, one calls it “the Crab”

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  4. Such a beautiful tribute to your friend. At a difficult time its nice to have friends surrounding her.

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  5. This is such a wonderful post and Denton is so right - cancer survivor is a common phrase these days. My sister, fortunately, is one of them. She had breast cancer.

    Superb tribute to such an alive lady who hopefully will come through all this soon.

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  6. Good and nice initiative!!

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  7. Anonymous4:27 AM

    My wife has gone through this twice in ten years and just recently finished her treatments. It is a nightmare diagnosis but treatments have made strides and people are surviving to live long and memorable lives.

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  8. There is a lot of dignity in your photo of this woman, perhaps in the woman herself.

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  9. It's good to talk about it. And gone are the times when people stared at women with no hair.

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  10. She looks an amazing woman,a lovely smile on her face, I wish her all the best.
    It is very devastating to have someone you love go through all that pain.

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  11. What an amazing woman and what brilliant photos of the party.
    Sending love and all positive thoughts.
    Lorenzo.

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  12. wonderful photos! The picture of the VW bug with the pink flowers on your Extra page is perfect. Great party...great friends. She won't forget.

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  13. What a nice idea.....everyone looks like they are having fun.

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  14. hi Kate, this a a very touching post.
    i haven't been here for a while and it's immensely enjoyable to visit you and see what you're up to.
    i'm saddened by the news about the Minnesota bridge collapse.

    hope you have a nice weekend!

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  15. I congratulate your friend & wish her the best.
    And it must be good for her to have that support.

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  16. It might sound strange, but the lady is lucky to have so many friends who care about her. It also speaks of her character...

    Sending many good thoughts her way!

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  17. We so need our friends in times like these. Positive thinking and surrounding yourself with love and support is surely the way back to good health. She is lucky she has all of this.
    The very best to your friend.

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  18. Good friends like y'all may be one of the most important parts of cancer therapy.
    --steve buser
    New Orleans Daily Photo

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  19. Denton is in right and I agree with Nikon too. Thank you about this photo Kate. It's precious.

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  20. Kate, what an amazing photo of your friend. Her smile and facial expression showed her courage; the scarf on the head showed her struggle/battle with the disease. It is definitely one of your best work because it is very raw and revealing.

    I wish her the best in her fight.

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  21. Oh Kate, what a wonderful party. I can only imagine the encouragement she must get from all of you. Bless you all.

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  22. Anonymous12:58 AM

    All the best of health to your friend. She's fortunate to have so much support. My best friend Inge is a breast cancer survivor - almost four years now!

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  23. I hope she gets better. I wish her well and a speedy recovery.

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  24. How awesome that such a group is there to support your friend.. It always amazes me to hear of sooo many women are cancer survivors.. My cousin last year went thru all of this as well and she is only 43.. and doing great. It is a long road though.. Well wishes and prayers to your friend. Aloha, Renee :)

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  25. Kate:
    What a lovely capture of your friend. Right now, I have a friend, too, that us undergoing chemo. She just had her first round of it and has a few more over the next six months. She's only 34, but she has a lot of friends rooting for her.

    It's wonderful to see that women can really be there for each other!

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  26. Do please send best wishes from London, too. I remember back in November last year - when my wife had the same diagnosis - thinking of our little worldwide community and wondering how many others were touched in the same way.

    Ten months, two operations & six months chemo we are now within 6 days of the end of radiotherapy. A very strange place to be.

    And, as you rightly say, all in all, not much fun.

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