Eye On Strength, One Year Strong
Happy 4th everyone, and welcome to our one year anniversary blog!
We cannot believe it's been a full year since we kicked off Eye On Strength. Whether you've been with us from day one, or you're just joining us now, we thank you for your interest and are excited to have you as part of the family.
For anyone new to our blog or family, Eye of The Survivor is an inspirational calendar dedicated to women who have battled breast cancer and survived. Photographer and visionary Reggy Stainfil founded EOTS in late 2015 after being inspired by the resilience of breast cancer patients and survivors. Reggy not only wanted to capture this fighter spirit strength and beauty through his photography, but also share it with others featuring it month by month, survivor by survivor. We are so glad he did!
After the calendar was underway, next came our website, social media, and this blog.
Over the past year we have learned about so many fierce women as well as many important topics related to breast cancer.
We’ve detailed sister networks and foundations supporting breast cancer research including AAngelsNJ (our current partner!), the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society, among others. We’ve encouraged participation in fundraising walks like the ACS Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Avon39 and Susan G. Komen’s Race For The Cure.
We’ve reviewed key areas including early detection through self-exams, mammograms and ultrasounds, prevention with everything from foods to vitamins, risk factors to be aware of, treatments from chemo and radiation to surgery, recent scientific findings, just to mention some topics.
But possibly most importantly, we’ve met dozens of amazing women who personify courage and strength including our first troupe of survivors from our inaugural calendar: Carol Manning, mother and daughter Migdalia (Mom) & Jennifer Ewens (Daughter), Betty Jean, Debby Stith, Renda Darby McLurkin, Corey Ayala-Fagundez, Edwinta Rhue, Brenda Dukes, Geeta Mitchell, Shakaira Ankrah, Susan Parés and Sandra Charlap. And half of this year’s fierce Survivor pack: Tish Sherwood, Tami Lamy, Nancy Dainesi, Denise Rodriguez, Angelina Killane-Sims and Ka’idah Ali.
We've had our ups and downs, tackling some tough topics and featured survivors who are still in the thick of it having had their cancer return, and we've also lost one of our own with the passing of Debby Stith in late April. But luckily, we are a tight unit of strength and remain thankful for this network of support - and to Reggy for starting it all!
If you've missed any of this pink action, we encourage you to click back on some of our previous posts and catch up on the latest and greatest of Eye On Strength. This family is growing every day and we're super excited and proud.
Though it's our one year blog anniversary we’re still in the middle of EOTS 2017 with six more Survivors to meet, and so many more stories to share. We hope you stay with us and gain as much as we do from this family.
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family:
Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
– Jane Howard
See you later this month when we introduce our July Survivor. Until then keep your Eye On Strength!
