Creativity and cancer find common ground

If you blush at the sight of women's intimate apparel, be forewarned: A lot of bras are on display in the court area in front of the former JCPenney store at The Centre at Salisbury mall. They'll be there the entire month of May. But you might not realize at first glance that they are bras. They're well-disguised as Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and Thing 2, Sonny and Cher, a scene from The Flintstones and a slinky blue two-piece bathing suit.

But rest assured, each display contains a bra, somewhere.

The Centre is hosting Women Supporting Women's sixth annual Bras for a Cause, a unique competition that raises funds to help Delmarva residents affected by breast cancer. Those affected directly by breast cancer are mostly women, but in rare instances men also get breast cancer. But indirectly, just about anyone can be affected – husbands, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends, co-workers – literally anyone.

But because most breast cancer patients are women, raising funds to help those affected by way of a contest in which bras are decorated in silly, creative, beautiful, funny and above all imaginative ways seems like a natural.

Certainly Thea Nelson thinks so. The 70-year-old grandmother and cancer survivor (breast and ovarian cancer, when she was in her 20s) has submitted decorated bras each year from the event's first year. And she wins something most years, too.

"I've won best title, best use of materials, best design," Nelson told me on opening night recently. "I've won best title twice."

Last year she was first runner-up (that's second place) for raising the most money – $700 to her credit.

"I started the first year they did it," Nelson said, "when it was at the downtown plaza. Then they moved it out here to the mall."

Nelson's 14-year-old granddaughter, Daisy Harper, is caught up in the excitement, too. She started designing bras for the event the following year – the first year it was held at the mall. The pair is a dynamic duo of bra design, and they have made it a grandmother-granddaughter tradition.

Harper has had more first-hand experience with breast cancer than most young girls. Her grandmother fought her battles when Daisy's mother, Juley Nelson Harper, was just a child. Now Juley is also battling breast cancer.

The good news? Daisy has been tested and does not carry the gene that is associated with a greater likelihood of breast cancer developing. Her mother and grandmother both have the gene.

"I don't have much knowledge, but Mom has told me stories about what they went through," said Harper. "People I meet with breast cancer today give me flashbacks about my grandmother's stories." She is a petite, soft-spoken teen who sounds older than her years when she speaks – not somber, but wiser. She enjoys dance competitions, and one of their traditions involves the night before a big dance competition, in a hotel room together plotting their next entry in Bras for a Cause.

Harper is also a frequent winner. Last year, when Nelson raised $700, her granddaughter raised $500.

This year, her idea came to her early, at Christmas, when she brought a Barbie doll out to show Nelson, and told her grandmother she wanted to do a Flintstones theme this year. It's titled "Yabba Dabba Boobies."

"I first thought about decades (this year's theme), people in the 1950s, '60s and '70s," said Harper. "I decided to look for something no one else would do, so I chose the Stone Age, the Flintstones."

Nelson told me her granddaughter sewed all the costumes worn by Barbie and her friends in the display and used pieces of her grandmother's jewelry to match the costumes.

"I love this event!" Harper confirmed, smiling.

Nelson chose to ignore the theme this year, and explained that her entry, “Broken Crayons Still Color,” came about when she mentioned her “broken breast,” to her daughter, who pointed out that even broken crayons still color. It’s also fitting because, as Nelson pointed out, people of all colors are affected by breast cancer.

Nelson's experience with breast cancer was very different than today's sophisticated approach.

"They didn't even do mastectomies back then," she said. "No chemo, no radiation. Just surgery. She was diagnosed in 1973, when she was 28 years old. She and her husband had two children.

"They removed half of the affected breast, and I had two years of follow-up treatment, with a lifetime of continued follow-ups," she said. She doesn't dwell on her experience, and she said she doesn't talk about it often.

"Everyone in my family had died by age 59," she said, "so I figured I would, too. Now I've outlived them all."

Her daughter was diagnosed at age 44, two years ago. Her cancer returns periodically, popping up in different places. A chip has been attached to her cancer and is tracked via scans every six months – a much more precise and focused approach, thanks to decades of research, new technology and experience. A former Delmar Junior High School teacher of the year, Juley Harper teaches English at Wor-Wic Community College now and has entered a doctoral program at Salisbury University. She clearly plans to follow in her mother’s footsteps – beat her cancer and carry on.

Everyone who has entered a decorated bra has some kind of cancer story. Check them out, and vote for your favorites. It's a fun event and, according to Nelson, "a great cause."

BRAS FOR A CAUSE

What: A fundraiser for Women Supporting Women, creatively decorated bras on display

Where: The Centre at Salisbury mall

When: Through May 31

Women Supporting Women

A registered 501(c)(3), Women Supporting Women's mission is to provide awareness, education and support to all those who are affected by breast cancer. It serves residents of Accomac, Dorchester, Somerset, Sussex, Wicomico and Worcester counties. Those service include informational tote bags to newly diagnosed patients (including significant others), those in treatment with chemotherapy or radiation, recurring cancers and children. It provides bras and prostheses, sponsors a lift chair loaner program, offers wigs, hats and scarves to patients, hosts montly support group meetings, in addition to providing education and awareness programs, mentoring and community outreach.