cancer crusader

Meet Nancy Baye (please forgive the quality of this pic. I borrowed a friend's camera and I obviously didn't know how to use it properly). I found her among the vendors at the National Conference for Young Women Living with Breast Cancer. In a sea of pink (dotted with squishy prostheses for sale), the vibrant colours of her booth were a sight for sore eyes.

Nancy is a three time breast cancer survivor (as she says, "I'm an overachiever.") who, finding that there weren't a lot of materials out there that "empowered" women living with breast cancer, decided to make her own. The Cancer Crusader was born.

Since I love thinking of myself as a badass superhero, I was thrilled to meet Nancy. Loved her work. Really liked her personally. Admired everything she does (she's also an artist and an actor).

She was selling these terrific t-shirts (you can buy them with the 'survivor' or 'supporter' caption):

She was also selling journals for women who are newly diagnosed. They have blank pages for, well, journalling but also places to make notes during each step of treatment, pages for listing folks who have offered to help with various things and even a page on which you can paste a lock of your hair.

And the best part is they're not pink! They are red and blue, with motivational captions throughout (superhero themed, of course) and lovely comic book type graphics (I live in a house with some hardcore comics fans; some of this has definitely rubbed off on me).

Nancy writes:

This journal is dedicated to all women, who, like me, have been called into action by cancer. May your writing be cathartic, liberating and a constant companion on your journey...And may you find your inner super-hero along the way."

I thought these journals were so cool that I bought two (and I really wanted to support Nancy). It was only later that afternoon that I realized I didn't know what to do with them.

I don't really have anyone in my life right now who has been newly diagnosed.

So I've decided to share the love. Do you know someone who is in a place right now that they would appreciate this journal? Drop me a line at laurie dot kingston at gmail dot com and let me know how you would put one (or both) of these journals to good use. I'll mail it to you.