 Making Memories  Quilters Against Breast Cancer This month we feature Quilters Against Breast Cancer, a program of Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. The mission of Making Memories is to grant wishes, including memory-making events, for metastatic breast cancer patients, while continuing to support, educate, and increase resource awareness. Making Memories is dedicated to providing a spark of joy into the lives of women and men who are losing their battle against breast cancer. The tragedy of this illness is not merely the physical and emotional burden, but also the enormous financial strain it places on the family. When insurance benefits are exhausted and mounting medical expenses deplete bank accounts, there is often little or no money left for special memory-making moments, set apart from the everyday sadness or turmoil of “saying goodbye.”
Founded by Fran Hansen and her daughter Anna in 1998, this incredible foundation has raised funds to grant hundreds of wishes. Their primary fund-raising program is Brides Against Breast Cancer and they sell wedding dresses at events across the country.
 Quilt  Color Quilt
From Bad Girl Mona: “My guild, the Ladies of the Lakes Quilt Guild in Lakeland, FL, just completed two wedding dress quilts. It was a pleasure to work with the fabrics and embellishments to make these unique quilts. We chose to use large paper piecing blocks with wedding themes…churches, angels, hearts, roses, etc…and alternated them with plain blocks which will be an area to place embellishments. It was fun to imagine the weddings that were once graced by these gowns and to know that what we are doing will help grant a wish. Additionally, my daughter and I have had the privilege of volunteering at the Tampa Brides Against Breast Cancer Wedding Dress Sale for the past several years. It is my sincere wish that all of you get to meet Fran Hansen and her staff of volunteers as they are some of the most gracious and loving people I’ve ever met.”
 Dress Show Tampa
If you or your guild would like to know more about the Quilters Against Breast Cancer program at Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, please visit http://www.makingmemories.org/. There is also a calendar of wedding dress sales if you know someone getting married or you’d like to volunteer.
Startling Breast Cancer Facts
The heartrending cost in human life is staggering. In America alone, one person receives a diagnosis of breast cancer every 2 1/2 minutes, while every 12 minutes someone loses his or her battle against this disease. Breast cancer is no respecter of age or gender, estimates show that more than 200,000 women and 1,700 men will develop breast cancer this year. Although breast cancer is the number two cancer killer of older women, it is the number one cancer killer of women between the ages of 15 and 54, leaving thousands of young children without their mothers and young husbands to cope alone.
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