Info of the Week

Early detection is the KEY to more successful treatment. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends the following schedule for women at average risk.

Age 40 and over: Mammogram and clinical breast exam yearly.
Age 20s and 30s: Clinical breast exam about every 3 years.
Starting in 20s: Choose whether or how often to do breast self-exam.

Note: ACS recommends that women at higher risk have an annual mammogram and MRI beginning at age 30.

This information was found in Women & Breast Health, provided by Carolinas Medical Center.

Article in Charlotte Observer

We recently told you to look for an article about our Focused on a Cure campaign that was written by Barbara Thiede. The article was printed in last Sunday's Charlotte Observer. If you didn't get a chance to read it, click here. Hope you enjoy!

Avon Walk!

They did it! The Avon Walk was this past weekend. Renda and Tara completed 20 miles on Saturday and 13 miles on Sunday! We're so proud of them!!

All of the images are posted online... but here's a sneak peek!

Before the walk started on Saturday morning, the girls signed the names of our survivors that they walked in honor of.



Meet the Pinkerbellas! They were dressed up and ready to walk!



Only halfway girls!



Here's another team from Kentucky. Their team of 16 members raised a total of $50,000!



The halfway mark was at Charlotte Country Day School. They were cheering the walkers on. Renda added our survivors to their banner!

At the 20 mile marker, the girls made the decision to stop for the day. What an accomplishment... 20 miles in one day!

Words cannot explain how good that massager felt on Tara's feet... but her expression can.

Karen and Rhonda visited the girls Saturday evening and brought them their favorite.... Chik-fil-A milkshakes!

Milkshakes and foot massages... what else can a girl ask for?

Here's Renda's decorated bag.

"My Avon Walk For: Rhonda Sloop, Jill, Jane, Allison, Judy, Angie, and Shirley"

... and her shoes that were white at 6am.

The girls in their Focused on a Cure hats.

Meet the Cleavage Crusaders! They were an entertaining group!

Renda, Rhonda, and Tara at the Wellness Village.

Sunday, bright and early, in the cold!

This guy was cheering the walkers on... "You ladies are utterly amazing!"

This guy was cheering on from his car with a megaphone and a "I'm a breast man" shirt!

This was Team Courage. They had a team member in a wheelchair. That's inspiring.

Someone else has their own "Millie and Luke." Meet Bailey....

and Bacardi!

As the girls passed, they noticed this man standing to the side with pink roses and wondered who he was waiting for. Little did they know, it was the group of ladies behind them. As they approached, he gave each lady a pink rose. What a sweeatheart!

This is the motto of the Pinkerbellas... "Faith, trust and Pinksie dust combined with the happiest of thoughts are all your need to walk for a cure!"

This was another team that the girls met - The TaBoobs. One of their team members made hats for the other team members. They were pink crocheted breasts! So creative!

And they finally made it to what they thought was the end.... but they soon realized it was 13.3 miles! :)

.3 miles to go!

And now they're happy!

Karen and Rhonda were waiting at the end to greet them. Rhonda was thankful for Renda's dedication.

There they are at the finish line. Mission complete!

There were tons of people cheering them on as they crossed the finish line.

Tara took 78,473 steps. Renda claims she took more.... due to having shorter legs!

This was the youth crew that was there to encourage the walkers. Renda was inspired by their generosity to volunteer at an event like this.

Then it was time to tend to the blisters.

The closing ceremony started with the entrance of all the walkers.

Then the survivors made their entrance with a round of applause.

This was the oldest survivor participant. She was in her 70s!

This lady was honored as a single participant to have raised over 1 million dollars! She has participated in 98 walks in various cities!

Since 1992, Avon has raised over $525 million towards breast cancer and still counting....

For two days, we walked as one.

To view all the images from the Avon Walk, click here. Simply enter your name and email address to access the images.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us raise money for the Digital Divas! In 2009, we hope to participate in several walks and we hope you'll join us!

Fight Like a Girl!

Tomorrow is the big day! Renda and Tara are up for the challenge!

They'll be checking into the event around 6am tomorrow, walking a marathon and then enjoying the festivities put on by Avon. Then Sunday they'll start over with a half-marathon. And Monday... they might be a little soar!

We want to thank everyone who has made donations towards our Digital Divas team! But this isn't over! We want this to be an annual campaign and a year full of events!

Info of the Week

We've decided to start an educational "info of the week" blogpost. Each week, we'll post some helpful breast cancer information - anything from facts, statistics, tips for mammograms and self breast exams, etc.

We hope you'll find this useful!

This week's information is...

Myth: If a mammogram does detect a problem, it's too late to do anything about it.

Fact: Mammograms can detect most breast cancers very early, giving you more treatment options and greater chances of survival. Mammograms could save your life!

This information was found in Women and Breast Health by Carolinas Medical Center.

Giving Hope

The 28th annual Healing Threads Fashion Benefit was held Monday and Tuesday evening at the Gibson Mill in Concord. The even was hosted by Suzanne Stevens Becker with the theme, "Giving Hope." There was a full house both nights and the event raised $106,000 for the CMC - Northeast Breast Health Program!

They put thought into every little detail. The tables were decorated with pink ribbons, pink vases, goodies and information. Butterflies hung from the ceiling as symbols of hope. It was beautiful!

Karen and Renda were able to attend the event, which was great! We were there to talk to people and get wonderful feedback about our exhibit. Everyone loved the images and are looking forward to seeing what our campaign has to offer next year.















We want to thank everyone at CMC-Northeast for letting us be a part of this wonderful event. It has inspired us to dream bigger for next year's campaign!

Upcoming Article

We are so happy to announce that the Charlotte Observer is doing an article about our "Focused on a Cure" campaign! Earlier this week, we talked with Barbara Thiede. She has a column in the Cabarrus Neighbors. She was very touched by our story, having watched her sister fight breast cancer as well. The article should be printed in this Sunday's Cabarrus Neighbors. Be sure to look for it! We can't wait!

Update!

Here's an updated list of our exhibit locations! We've had such an amazing response from this campaign. We hope that you're able to visit one of these locations!

October 13th - October 17th - Bates Center at CMC Northeast

October 20th - October 24th - Breast Health Center at Copperfield

October 20th and 21st (evening only) - "2008 Healing Thread Fashion Benefit for the Northeast Foundation", Both nights at 7pm. (For more info, visit http://www.givenortheastfoundation.org/.)

October 27th - 31st - Cabarrus Family Medicine, Concord office

November 3rd - 9th - Carolina Mall, Center court

November 10th - 14th - Wachovia, Church Street, Concord

November 17th-21st - Sportcenter Athletic Club, Concord


Remember... our Avon Walk is less than two weeks away! We're still accepting donations!

Thanks in advance!!

Avon Walk Countdown

Only three more weeks until our Avon Walk. We've been training for the 40 mile distance, but we still need your help with donations!

Our team goal for "Digital Divas" is $5,000! We're over half way there, but there's not alot of time left!

To donate to our team, go to http://www.avonwalk.org/.
Click on the "Make a Donation" tab.
Click on the "Donate to a Participant" button.
Select our walk - "Charlotte 2008".
Select "Search for a team" and type "Digital Divas" in the box.
A box will appear at the bottom of the screen showing our team "Digital Divas" and our team captain "Renda Ayscue."
Click on our team name "Digital Divas."
*You can read our info and keep an eye on our progress through this page.
To make a donation, scroll to the bottom where you see the team members box. You must click on a specific team member to make a donation.

Donating is easy. You simply click on the pink box that says "Click here to support me." It will walk you through the donation process.

We appreciate your donations!

Wish us luck in the walk! Any advice from our long distance walking/running friends??

Concord Library

Our exhibit is showing at the Concord Library this week. It will be there until next Friday, October 10th.









The exhibit is located on the second floor of the library. Stop by in your spare time!

Survivor Party

Monday, we held a survivor party!! We wanted to thank our 2008 survivors for participating in our Focused on a Cure campaign. It takes a lot of courage to tell such an emotional story and then to have it showcased for thousands of people to see. So, we wanted to honor these women!

The night started with snacks and refreshments. Then everyone took a seat for Renda and Karen to express their appreciation. To be honest, we've all learned so much through this experience and we wanted them to know.





We put together gift bags for the ladies. They had the opportunity to open their gifts and see all the goodies they received.









The ladies had an opportunity to meet and greet one another. They all had so many stories in common; it seemed like they had all been friends for years.







We want to thank everyone who donated to the party!

Bates Center (health material)
Breast Imaging Center (health material)
Brighton (leather ribbons)
Laura Buckel with Arbonne (skincare samples)
Coldwater Creek (promise bracelet)
Office Max (pink ribbon office supplies)
Townhouse II (Sundrop pound cake)
Irresistible Portraits (handmade jewelry, food, portraits, water bottles, DVD)

We hope that our survivors have enjoyed this campaign experience as much as we have!



*Dont forget about the remaining exhibit locations:

September 30th - October 10th - Concord Library

October 13th - October 17th - Bates Center at CMC Northeast

October 20th - October 24th - Breast Health Center at Copperfield

October 20th and 21st (evening only) - "2008 Healing Thread Fashion Benefit for the Northeast Foundation", Both nights at 7pm. (For more info, visit http://www.givenortheastfoundation.org/.)

October 27th - 31st - Cabarrus Family Medicine, Concord office

November 3rd - 9th - Carolina Mall, center court

November 10th - 14th - Wachovia, Church Street, Concord

November 17th-21st - Sportcenter Athletic Club, Concord

We have more locations that we will announce after the dates are finalized. But if you have a business of your own or an idea of a location that might be interested in hosting a gallery showing for us, please contact Renda at 704.933.5600 or renda@irresistibleportraits. Remember, the more shows we hold, the more awareness there will be!