The Color of Cancer

This month is breast cancer awareness month. I absolutely love how it has become so HUGE! So many people, businesses and major companies are embracing the pink! I think raising money and awareness for breast cancer is incredibly important, especially as a woman. 

However, there are a ton of other types of cancer and it is important to raise money and awareness for them as well. As unfortunate as it is, I think it is safe to say that all of us have some experience with some kind of cancer, and some know it all too well. 

A couple of weeks ago I was absolutely shocked numb when I learned that one of my closest friends/bridesmaids had been diagnosed with Lymphoma. I was sad, scared and angry. This is MY friend! She is 28 years old. She is a wife and a mother. It's not fair. As I calmed down and accepted it, I realized that way too many people have thought what I thought and felt how felt and the worst part of that is so many people have and are going through what Courtney is going through. And no, it's not fair. 

In a situation where I feel powerless I have been grasping for some idea or some way to honor Courtney, so that she knows she is constantly in my thoughts and prayers. I found this great chart on www.choosehope.com and wanted to share it with all of you. It lists all the types of cancer and their coordinating ribbon. 

I have to say I was pretty excited to find out Lymphoma was lime green...what a great color! I wanted to share this with all of you because I know a lot of you have a connection to cancer, and I thought using color to either honor, remember or raise awareness is a really cool idea. 

As soon as I found out I went out and got a Lime Green pedi. 

please excuse the extreme dryness of my feet. 

and, since people always ask my tattoo says "AGAPE" in Greek....it means selfless love. 

{i was in a sorority and am Greek by blood, so it has a lot of meaning}

I was so excited when I learned that Courtney's best friend had also found ChooseHope.com and had bought  all of Court's friends a hope ring. The idea is that we all wear these rings for Courtney and we take pictures of our rings when we are thinking of Court, whether it's somewhere cool and exciting or at the grocery store. 

I also just need to share a story about how amazing Courtney is. After her most recent chemo treatment {she's halfway done!} she noticed she was beginning to lose her hair. She knew that cutting her hair short and beginning to wear her wig would be a very difficult and emotional time. So, in typical Courtney fashion, she decided to make the best of the situation and she invited her best girlfriends over for a Chopping Party. We brought over food and wine {of course} and one of our friends brought crazy halloween wigs. We were all decked out in CRAZY hair which made Court feel not-so-bad about the really great wig she has. 

All of us in our wigs--Court is the beauty in the middle. How amazing is that wig? You can't even tell! 

It is exactly for this reason that I know without a shadow of doubt that Courtney will beat this. She has THE. BEST. ATTITUDE. She turned something scary in to something SO fun and she has so many amazing people around her, rooting for her and supporting her. 

We had a blast and her short hair is ADORABLE and the wig....well, doesn't even look like a wig.