Oct. 05--PORTSMOUTH -- Wendy McCoole of Eliot, Maine, has been named one of eight Pink Power Moms -- mothers who have survived breast cancer.
The program, sponsored by infant brand Bright Starts, recently recognized mothers across the United States and allows them to share their experience with others. McCoole was nominated by her daughter and mother, and is the founder of local nonprofit BreastCancerStories.org.
Twenty-five years after her mother -- a three-time breast cancer survivor -- had been diagnosed for the first time, McCoole was hearing the same words from her doctor.
"I had been raking the day before and my muscles were aching," McCoole said. "I felt the spot on my breast and called the doctor right away."
That was in 2003, and the doctors decided to wait to see if it was just a change in her tissue. But a mammogram and ultrasound later showed it was still there. When she was diagnosed, her then 17-year-old daughter had turned to her, worried about biological factors contributing to the cancer.
"Her very first words to me were, 'I'm going to get this, aren't I?" McCoole said. "The best advice I can give her is to pay attention to her body, because it can strike young women."
After nine months of two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, McCoole was finally cleared of her mammary ductal carcinoma -- the most common type of breast cancer in women.
During her treatments, she had kept an online journal called "Bald Wendy" to keep her friends and family updated on her status.
"It was a great and comforting way to keep my friends and family connected," she said. "With tragedy, crisis or big events, sometimes loved ones don't know what to say. So I gave them a way to know how I was doing."
In 2005, McCoole left her corporate career to found www.breastcancerstories.org. In the five years, it has grown from a basic HTML site to a collection of stories and voices from around the world.
"What happened was eventually I began getting messages from people I didn't know," she said. "My story was helping them not to feel alone when they were diagnosed. I kept thinking, if one story could help one person find hope and encouragement, so could another."
Site visitors can find people in their area -- refining searches to find similar stories to their own. In the beginning, McCoole would manually add stories that were e-mailed to her. Now the site has expanded and her nonprofit has reached tens of thousands of people.
In the next month, she is planning to launch mybreastcancersupport.org and begin working with local communities to provide support for patients. The new group will provide scholarships for those going through surgery and therapy by providing gifts to conferences and gym memberships.
She recently sent a Portsmouth patient and her family via limousine to Boston to see the show "Wicked."
"Her prognosis isn't good and she really wanted to see it," McCoole said. "We want to fulfill wishes."
The nonprofit will be presenting "hope chests" to area hospitals to let patients receive a present after treatment, be it a gift card for dinner or the movies or a gift certificate for a manicure. She will be working with Portsmouth, Dover, Rochester, Exeter and York hospitals.
In regards to the Bright Starts honor, she said she's excited. Winners received $5,000 plus an additional $1,000 annually for the next five years for a charity of their choice -- for McCoole it is her BreastCancerStories.org. The Super Pink Mom, which has not been announced yet, will receive an additional $20,000 for her charity.
McCoole hopes at the awards weekend at the end of the month they will find out who wins the grand prize, but said if she doesn't win, she won't be upset.
"I'm more patient and more positive," McCoole said of her experience with breast cancer. "I don't want to go through it again, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've meet so many incredible people along the way."
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