January 2000 - Cancer & You
Heart of the Matter
by Veronica Pasfield
The stories could fill a book
and someday they just might. There's the one about the cancer patient who
wouldn't undergo treatment without her little pewter Comfort Heart, a gift
from a loved one, in hand.
And another about Tish, a computer instructor at Village
Elementary in York, Maine, whose fellow teachers bought Comfort Hearts to
wear each day in support of her battle with the cancer that eventually
took her life.
When we made a presentation to Tish about the Comfort Heart tribute, she
cried and said, 'I can't tell you how much this helps me'" says Jackie
McKim, the fourth grade teacher at Village Elementary who initiated the
project. "It's the idea of having support and not feeling alone. And if
you ever feel alone, you just hold your heart."
The heart in question is a graceful few ounces of metal devised by Carol
Ann Cole. She is a seven-year breast cancer survivor and founder of teh
Halifax based Comfort Heart Initiative, which has raised nearly $800,000
for the Canadian Cancer Society.
This small-town Nova Scotia girl started her career as an 18-year-old
typist for Bell Canada. She ended in Toronto, having ascended to
vice-president of logistics despite shouldering the additional demands of
single motherhood. Sadly, breast cancer stopped this capable and driven
woman in her tracks.
Cole's diagnosis came in January 1992. Her discovery occurred within days
of her mother, Mary, finding out that she also had the disease.
Unfortunately, Mom's outlook was quite grim. Mary had known that there
was a a lump in her breast for some time, but she was afraid to get it
checked. By the time it became too big to ignore, the cancer had spread
throughout her body.
Carol Ann had very successful lumpectomy. Mary's treatment was focused on
giving her a
little more precious time with her four daughters, and improving
the quality of that time. By the time Mary passed away that
December, Carol Ann was back at work. Yet she realized cancer
had claimed more than her mother.
"Work didn't have the same spark for me," Cole says, "Cancer
not only changes who you are, it shows who you are. I think
showing who you are is the most significant thin. I'm from a
very small town. When I was climbing the corporate ladder,
people would sometimes call me a 'country bumpkin' and I'd be a bit
embarrassed. After surviving cancer, I started to think,
'Yeah, and I'm proud of that, and I've done well.' And I began
to define doing well by being able to bring people some help through
my own life experience."
Around this time, Cle took a fateful trip back home, where she
discovered what were then called "Worry Hearts" at a shop in Nova
Scotia. She bought and gave away 117 of them before two
friends suggested she sell them as a fund-raiser. Cole
contacted the manufacturer,
OceanArt Pewter, and asked
them to make a few design alterations, change the name and donate
all profit to her initiative.
"I'm a two-time Hodgkin's survivor," says OceanArt Pewter vice
president Linda Power. "We were always keeping an eye open for
a positive way to give back. Once you have cancer, you have a
connection to people in the cancer community that you can't have
with others. After meeting with Carol Ann, we felt that if
anyone could do something successfully, she could."
In 1994, Cole jumped at an early retirement package and devoted
herself to the cause full-time. Two Canadian national speaking
tours, a ton of media attention and Cole's charisma have sold more
than 130,000 Comfort Hearts at ten bucks a pop, with six of those
dollars going directly to research. And know that her
brainchild is up and running, Cole is simultaneously starting a
third career as a motivational speaker.
"I'm feeling a need to help people with some of my other strengths
and not just my cancer experience," she says.
To order: Send $10 (U.S. or Canadian) to
The Comfort Heart Initiative
Box 27013
Halifax, NS
B3H 4M8
Make cheques payable to the Canadian Cancer Society.
You can also call 1-800-407-4436 or
e-mail:
colemind@carolanncole.com
