Minivans, Mammaries and Muffintops

(a tale of friendship, hope, determination…and yes, breasts)

Have you ever wondered who your true friends are?

Considered who you could depend on in the ultimate crisis?

Wondered who would have arms outstretched to catch you if the bottom drops out of your world?

I just heard a story that made me really think about friendship, connection, and how sometimes people show you their true hearts.

My cousin Tara is one of five women who have done just that.  Faced with the staggering diagnosis of Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in their close friend Cherie Metcalfe in 2009, she and her friends rallied around, banded together and decided to kick cancer’s ass.  Together.

The story is heartstopping – the diagnosis came just three days after the birth of Cherie’s son.  Are there any moms or dads reading right now?  Picture yourself holding your baby in your arms, three days old, and imagine someone breaking that news to you.  Tell me it wouldn’t knock you off your feet, steal your breath, your very grip on reality.  Then tell me how determined you would be to move mountains to beat it.  After exhausting her options here in Canada, Cherie was accepted into a clinical trial in California.  The estimated costs of treatment and travel were in the range of $100,000.

Did her girlfriends flinch?  Likely.  Cry?  Perhaps.  But then these women took action.  Their story of community, fundraising, and true friendship can be read in the guest blog post Tara wrote for the Dave Brosha Photography blog.

Make sure you click through, it’s a beautiful photo essay featuring those angels who are making a difference in this story…with a twist.  And it’s as heartwarming as you might expect.  Touching, even.  I know it touched me.  In fact, it moved me to keep looking into their story.  Moved me to join the Facebook group they set up in support of Cherie.

And there’s more.  If you check out the Facebook group, one of the ways they are raising funds to help Cherie is by selling a cookbook they created, called Minivans, Mammaries and Muffintops.

Here’s the lowdown on the book:

 

If you read through the comments on the Facebook page, you will see comments praising the book as being “amazing, fabulous, wonderful, really well put together” and my personal favourite “Kind of like a LooneySpoons, only dirtier.”

So now it’s moving me to buy cookbooks.  And to write about them, here, providing links to their story, to a story that isn’t over yet.  That’s right, it’s still going on, right now.  Every day that goes by, every donation, every cookbook they sell, every thought or prayer that goes out into the universe in Cherie’s direction, becomes part of the story.  Every person who sends positive vibes, heartfelt prayer or good karma becomes part of the story.

And when I hit publish on this post, when I receive my cookbooks, when I send my very best wishes out to this mama and her friends, I will be part of the story too.

Will you?

Click through the links.  Read the amazing guest post called Angels Everywhere my cousin wrote and see some gorgeous photography, and check out the Facebook group.  And be part of the story in any way you can…either by being a witness to an amazing group of women doing what women do when they are at their best, by sending your thoughts and prayers their way, by donating funds or Aeroplan points, or by ordering copies of Minivans, Mammaries and Muffintops for yourself and/or others you know.

So there’s the story.  Did it move you?  Would you like to be part of it?

If so, get in touch with Tara at tara.marchiori@yahoo.com or the group through the I support Cherie Facebook group.  Or let me know and I’ll make sure you get the information you need.

Thank you so much for reading and being part of just one tiny chapter of this amazing story.

I can’t wait to get my cookbooks!