The Shop for the Cure has been closed up and packed up. It was another successful 5 weeks of sales, building awareness, making new friends, seeing old friends, giving support, getting support..... I get a little sad when we close it all down, knowing that there are some people I won't see for another year.

There are about 50 volunteers who make the "Shop" a success. Of those 50 volunteers, 50% are survivors. The rest of us have someone in our lives who is a survivor.

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On Mother's Day Kaitlyn and I took part in the… Continue

This Sunday, when we were working at the Shop for the Cure, we were discussing the friends and mutual steering committee members we had lost to this terrible disease.

We talked about Daryl Silver - I think of her whenever my peonies bloom. Her daughter had them at her wedding, and she always talked about the beauty of that flower.

We talked about Jan Zimmerman, who was the impetus of the Shop. I remember when we even had a "Wrap" for the cure over the holidays. J

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Since being diagnosed, I have had a team party the day before the walk to thank my team for walking and to hand out the shirts and bibs. For the first two years, my team name was Rhonda's Rack. I loved that name and thought of it shortly after finding out that I was going to have a team for the walk. The joke for the first Big Bash, was the deer antlers I found at a garage sale that I painted pink! Last year, everyone had to put a hot pink boa around their neck before they had their photo taken… Continue

"If every cancer is as evil as the one that took my mom I will fight them all!" I said to my fiance as he asked me, "Are you sure you want to do this?" with Mother's Day being just 3 short months after having my daughter and losing my mom all within a day of them meeting each other. "Yes, I want to start a team" I said. And so Renee's Renegades was formed as a way to remember, heal and hope for a cure. I spread the word and my small family group turned into 32 w

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My mom, Margot Parker, was diagonsed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 1999. She survived with vigor until September 1, 2008. The last words I spoke to my mother as she lay in wait to go to her final destination were, " Mom, we've been on lots of trips together. This one has not been the best one, but I am glad I could do it with you. But now it's time to go home."
I never want another person to have to say something like that to their mother, sister, aunt, grandma or daughter. That's is why I h… Continue