Crafters for a Cure: Koryn
jillianduch

Welcome to my new blog feature. Each Friday (or super-late Thursday), I'll introduce you to a crafter (or artisan) who dedicates part or all of the proceeds from his or her work to a cancer charity. Some will be 3-Day walkers; some will have been touched by less well-publicized forms of cancer. But hopefully, all will be examples of how creating can sometimes combat a disease that does little but take.


For my inaugural "Crafters for a Cure" post, we have Koryn, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in fall 2008 and just had her chemotherapy port removed. (P.S. Koryn is presently raising money for her son to walk with her in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. You can find out more about donating to him here.)


What I create: Jewelry (necklaces, rings, etc), notecards, wine bottle stoppers

My favorite piece in my Etsy shop is:

Hope For A Cure Sterling Silver Pendant Necklace

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33409555

It was featured as an auction item at BreastCancer.org. It is my greatest hope in this New Year!



Why I hate cancer:

It strips people of their dignity. Breast cancer, in particular, strips a woman of many things that make her feel feminine....her hair, her breasts, her estrogen. And even in 2010, some people still can hardly say the word "breast". It is such a painful thing to go through a personal struggle so publicly.


The charities I support:

Avon Walk Foundation and The Breast Cancer Site, both of which fund mammograms for low income women. With changes in the insurance industry as well as in the government programs, funding for these screenings are diminishing and more and more women with breast cancer will go undiagnosed until it is too late. We will begin seeing more and more women dying of breast cancer.



What more people should realize about breast cancer is:


1.) Breast cancer reconstruction for a mastectomy does not give you a new breast, as if you've had a breast augmentation. It gives you a "shape" to fill your bra cup. Your breast is left numb and without feeling. This is permanent. You are left without a nipple in most cases, and even if you have nipple reconstruction, you cannot feel it.


2.) Breast cancer still kills women. In 2009, forty-thousand women DIED of breast cancer and nearly one fourth of those were women under age 55. And that was in the USA alone! (Not to mention over 155,000 women living with metastasized breast cancer that will eventually kill them). Many more women lose their breast(s) each year.


3.) The majority of breast cancers are fed by hormones. These hormone sources are found in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapies. The rise in breast cancer incidences has gone up in direct proportion to the introduction of these hormones in the 1960s. Educate yourself about the facts at my educational site http://ReduceYourRisk.wordpress.com


My favorite cancer-awareness slogan: I fight like a girl!


The biggest blessing in my life is:

The people in my life who supported me through breast cancer treatment. An Army of women who fed my family for six months while I was going through chemo. My husband, who has been my rock.



 My favorite post on my personal blog:

http://motherspreciousgems.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/happy-thanksgiving/

This posting was made just after my mastectomy. This song taught me to be grateful for all the things in my life, even the hardships. It has been a hard lesson but one that had cancer not struck, I never would have learned. There are blessings to be found in the crisis that come into our lives, if we look.


Where to find me:

Blog: motherspreciousgems.wordpress.com/

Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BosomBuddies


Know someone who is a "Crafter for a Cure"? E-mail me at jillianduch [at] hotmail [dot] com

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