PINK IT FORWARD

Sometimes our biggest reason to go forward comes in the smallest package. In the case of Kayla Leier, she looks to her baby daughter Adelynn. It’s no secret that parents want to be around to watch their kids grow, but in Leier’s family, the threat of not being there hits a little too close to home. Breast cancer runs in the family, with her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and several aunts and cousins all facing the big “C.”

“We say yet, not if. Treat it as if we’re going to,” said Leier. Her mom Deanne talked openly with her kids after her diagnosis, a vast difference from a generation earlier when people “didn’t talk about it.” That attitude delayed action for many women of that generation and that was not going to fly with Deanne, not when she had a daughter to raise. The family openness led Leier to getting screened well before doctors say is necessary for most women. “If we’d have followed government standards—no way. There’s no way we’d be here,” said Leier.

At her first screening six years ago at age 21, Leier had a “sinking feeling” that “something was off.” In her case, it’s a mass doctors will be watching closely. They’ve talked about removing her breasts preventatively, to which Leier only half jokingly said, “hack 'em off.” She is currently breastfeeding and would do so again if she has another baby, so for now, the breasts are staying. In the event doctors say they have to go, she’s ready. “They’re not worth anything to me. [Without them] I’m not less of a woman.” Echoes Deanne, “it’s tissue, tissue. tissue. You don’t need it to survive.”

Both Leier and her mom take one glance at baby Adelynn and it’s obvious they’re both thinking what Leier says next, choking back tears. “I want to be here forever.”

Ever the tight-knit group, Leier’s extended family all worked to help each other, from screenings, to chemo and remission. “You prep so it’s not a shock,” said Leier. They swap chemo stories the way most of us swap recipes, with a mustbring list that any good traveler has. Except it’s not passports, it’s throw blankets. Instead of accessories that transform an outfit from museum appropriate to cocktail ready, it’s toiletries that fight dry skin and germs. There’s no squeezing into shapewear, no little black dress. There are pajamas you can wear when you can’t lift your arms. Chemotherapy, said Deanne, can be rough. “My husband said this is just another bump in the road and I said, ‘no it’s a mountain.’ I got over all the bumps and I climbed a mountain.”

Those kits they put together for themselves and each other, they led the women to their next mountain. Leier, Deanne and two of Deanne’s sisters formed the non-profit Pink It Forward. They want cancer patients to know they’re not alone by sending them the same care packages that got them through cancer. Said Leier, “We were already doing it, so why not help other people.” A package recipient wrote to Pink It Forward after “having a crappy day.” When the PIF package came, she “just broke down,” thankful that someone “knows what it’s like.”

The PIF team wants more people to know they can help. You can make donations or request a care package at pinkitforward.net gear stressing the importance of staying healthy and fit to best prevent or fight cancer.

This is a group of highly motivated women who can throw together a successful fundraiser in a matter of weeks, but when they’re being frank, they’d rather not have to do this at all.

For Deanne, “There’s hope that there will be a cure, that researchers will come up with a cure so [Adelynn] won’t be having this conversation. If there’s an end to Pink It Forward, that means breast cancer has been cured.” [AWM]