In 2013 we had our Cancer de Mama Clinic February 1, 2 and 3. Over 550 ladies attended. We provided them with bras, prostheses, tit bits, hats, wigs, scarves, and lots of love and support. We served approximately 800 lunches and snacks, plus fed volunteers for the clinic. Many volunteers provided their help and expertise, supplies, lunches, transport, support work, fitting, sewing, sorting, cataloging, financial support and love. The list is endless. There were over 250 volunteers that helped make the clinic our largest and most successful yet.
We have had more cash donations from the Breast Friends of Foam Lake Saskatchewan and will also get more from selling the six cookbooks they have now produced. We are so pleased to be a part of this wonderful organization that has achieved so much to help with cancer research, treatment and survival.
So many people have been involved in the clinic in so many ways it is impossible to list all without forgetting someone so we have to say a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to all who have been involved. Because of you we can continue to help the Breast Cancer Survivors of Mexico.
Our Survivor Support Program has helped two needy women this past year, although we were sad to learn that one of these recently lost her life after years of difficult times. We were honored to have been of help to her.
In March we assisted with a new clinic in Guadalajara. This clinic was undertaken by Angelica Fuente and the Anuichali School in Guadalajara. Cancer de Mama assisted with some financial aid and supplies; several of us consulted and attended that clinic. They helped approximately 200 ladies. The school students did fund-raising before the clinic and designed a logo (which we are using on our new T-shirts). They also sewed and stuffed Been-a-boobs (a prosthetic using synthetic beads). They provided a lovely lunch for all who attended, plus they had workshops, seminars and yoga classes as well as makeovers and wig styling.
The Guadalajara Clinic was very successful. We are especially pleased because this location is more accessible to more women than can be served at La Penita. Our goal has been to help as many ladies as we can, so having a clinic there, and run by Mexican people, makes lots of sense. It opens our clinic in La Penita to more ladies in the state of Nayarit and opens the doors for Mexican nationals to have clinics all over Mexico. If we can provide the model with the clinics we have, they will grow.
One of the problems associated with clinic expansion is getting supplies, especially the silicon prostheses. With that in mind the Tres Amigas had a fund-raising luncheon on International Women’s Day at Latitude 21. They raised over $18,000 pesos to fund the design and manufacture of a practical prosthesis that we can make in Mexico. We have started on this project and hope to have the new prostheses available at our clinic January 31, February 1 and 2, 2014.
Our finances are in good shape with over $200,000 pesos at the close of this clinic year. This assures us that in the short run we will be able to fund our clinic and Survivor Support Program as well as encourage others in Mexico to get involved in similar efforts. In the long run we will still need both cash and supply donations. Our goal continues to be to help Mexican women survive breast cancer with comfort and dignity.