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After having a mastectomy in 1952, Mrs. Lasser found little emotional support available to her. She became determined to do something about it, and formed the Reach to Recovery program to help other women facing this horrible disease. Reach to Recovery matches up trained volunteer breast cancer survivors with new patients. They provide practical, non-medical advice and emotional support for these women during this difficult time in their lives. Mrs. Terese Lasser fought an uphill battle against skeptical physicians, financial difficulties and more, and yet through her determination, she triumphed. The Reach to Recovery program merged with the American Cancer Society in 1969 and is still going strong today. To learn more about this inspirational story, please click on the image below or the above title. DORIS GOLD
This beautiful hand-painted add-on cachet was created especially for me by Doris Gold from La Mesa CA. Note the "extension" of the rainbow stamp colors into the cachet design. Doris told me it was to represent Terese's positive outlook on life. It's a one-of-a-kind cover and I feel honored to own it. I consider it to be the highlight of my collection.
CINDI TURNER
These two beautiful covers have add-on cachets created for me by Cindi Turner from Indianapolis IN. Cindi works with me at the American Cancer Society office in Indy. I discovered, quite by accident, that she was a talented artist and asked her to use her imagination to create a couple of add-on cachets for me. These are the result. The first one was done with color pencil, while the second cachet used both color pencil and watercolor. Send me some email if you like her work. I might be able to use it to convince her to do more.
KEN KRIBBS
Here we have an original hand-drawn/hand-painted Kribbs' Kover created by Ken Kribbs from Brunswick GA and is number five of twenty-five. It features the image of a turtle and the quote from Phyllis Diller, "Inch by inch, anything's a cinch." The cachet maker had difficulty obtaining permission to use the National Institute of Health's logo and so decided to use the address of the Director instead.
DAVID ELLIS GARRETT
This outstanding add-on cachet was created for me by David Ellis Garrett from Mt. Clemens MI. It is a beautiful one-of-a-kind work of art. David is a professional artist and has been creating his incredible first day covers for several years. He used acrylic paint to create this wonderful cachet. I love the contemplative expression on the woman's face. She appears to be thinking seriously about her health. The text along the bottom encourages women to "Get a Checkup". I'm quite proud to have this cover in my collection. I hope you have enjoyed viewing it as much as I've enjoyed being able to present it to you.
MARIAN SAMUELS
These three very interesting Ms Samm Cachets were created by Marian Samuels from West Lafayette IN. The first two are unique covers and are both numbered one of one, while the third cover is number one of three. I've been told that Marian is an 80 year old African-American woman and a retired fashion designer. Her covers are a little more primitively done than most cachets I've seen, however I still like her unique style. Marian created these hand-painted add-on first day covers to help her raise money for a trip to Africa. She sounds like a remarkable woman and I hope she has a great time on her trip. All three cachets feature women performing a breast-self-examination in front of a mirror. The American Cancer Society recommends that women do BSE in front of a mirror so that they can more easily see any differences in the way their breasts normally appear. BSE is not only performed with the hands, it is also important for the woman to visually examine her breasts, looking for any irregularities.
DOLLY ANN LaMANNA
This beautiful cover was created by Dolly Ann LaManna from Milford CT and is a one-of-a-kind work of art specially made for my collection. Dolly wrote me a beautiful letter to go along with the cachet. I think it's best for me to quote from her letter where she explains, in her own words, how she created the cachet and what it symbolizes to her: "It is a multimedia, hand drawn and painted cachet. I used fine point graphite pencil for the "Grandmother - Faith", waterproof ink for the "Mother - Hope", waterproof ink and prisma pencil for the young "Daughter - Love", and oil paints for the symbolic pink ribbon and the daffodils outside of the ribbon. The daffodil inside is prisma pencil. I used the same colors as were used in the stamp. The theme is representative of three successive generations of women, the past, present and future interpreted as Faith, Hope and Love. The older generation of women had little if any option open to them for treatment or cure when confronted with this terrible disease. They had to have faith that their daughters' generation, today's young women, would. Today's generation is making headway in pursuit of a cure for breast cancer. They have hope that a curative, and preventative treatment for this dreaded disease will soon be available to them and to future generations of women, today's young, loved daughters. The daffodils represents the story of Linda Ellerbee, a well known journalist. She had a double mastectomy and was determined to get well. She was motivated to live through her ordeal so that she would see the field of daffodils bloom the following spring planted by her husband." I can add nothing to this wonderful description. I'm proud to have Dolly's beautiful work of art as a significant part of my collection. |
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