Monday 24 October 2011

Attention, New Yorkers

I received this from the photographer David Jay. If you're in New York this week I urge you to go along. The Scar Project is a very moving and thoughtful body of work.



Reminder: Four days left-The SCAR Project Opening Night Gala, October 28th. Exhibition runs through November 6th, 2011. Please join us in celebrating this extraordinary project. Tickets are available online at EventBrite for our Opening Night Gala or a Gallery Walk with photographer David Jay, on October 30th and November 5th. General admission tickets are also available for the entire 10 days and evenings of the exhibition. We look forward to seeing you at 201 Mulberry St. NY, NY.
For more information on The SCAR Project, please visit our website at www.thescarproject.org or our Facebook page.

Saturday 15 October 2011

Look, a Book

Bang a gong! Play that funky music white boy! Get down with the trumpets! Hit me with your rhythm stick!

Why the big hullabaloo? Jessica Jones' eagerly awaited book The Elegant Art of Falling Apart is published this week by Hachette Australia.


The book tells the touching tale of a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer and how she got through it by writing a mad blog about cancer fashion and beauty tips; with a lot of help from her wonderfully eccentric friends and with the love of her handsome Aussie boyfriend. Only... uh-oh, it turns out that he didn't love her after all and just as soon as she finished the chemo and radiotherapy, he dumped her...

Hang on a minute. Clearly this impostor has gone and rocked up at a publishing house with a story she's lifted directly from Chemo Chic. Can you credit the bare-faced impertinence of the woman!

Plagiarism aside, it looks like a pretty good read. Celebrated Australian actress Susie Porter says this:

'Jess has the amazing ability to make you feel that you are with her, every step of the way. I laughed out loud, I cried and I couldn't put The Elegant Art of Falling Apart down, couldn't stop reading until I'd completed this extraordinary journey with her.'

For those of you with Attention Deficit Disorder, here are some one-line reviews from Twitter:

'Never read such a heartrendingly funny brave book. Title sums it up perfectly.'

'An amazing inspirational woman's experience with cancer and a wanker.'

Please feel free to add your own one-line review on The Elegant Art of Falling Apart facebook page.



Wednesday 12 October 2011

The Hair-Story Continues...

On October 15th, 2009, two years ago, I had my final (I hope) chemotherapy session.


Bald as a billiard ball I progressed to five weeks of radiotherapy and, during that time, small fluffy strands of hair started to appear, like peach fuzz.


By January 2010 my heart was broken (that's a whole other story) but my hair was a centimetre long.

In March that year my friend Deidre trimmed off the ends. Loath as I was to part with the tiniest wisp of my new hair Nurse Lottie had insisted that this must be done because the first growth would be full of chemo chemicals and generally 'rubbish'.


Since then I have not had cut it at all. Not once. Now that all must change. It's time for Lily to bite the bullet and venture forth to the hairdresser. Much as I'm looking forward to hanging out with the lovely Kell Skott and his equally lovely wife Jacqui, I simply can't bear to sacrifice my hard won hair in vain. No! If it's going to be cut, it's going to be cut for a cause.


The Haven is a wonderful sanctuary for anyone with breast cancer. They helped and cared for me during my difficult year of breast cancer. Please sponsor my BIG BIANNUAL HAIRCUT by donating to the Haven. 


Click here to donate via Virgin Giving.

For illustrative purposes only - actual result may differ

Sunday 2 October 2011

Pinktober!

 
October sweeps in on a wave of insanely glorious sunshine and a tsunami of bonkers pink ribbon promotions.

If you were reading Chemo Chic this time last year, you will know that I am all in favour of raising money for breast cancer charities and being generally aware of the signs of BC to look out for. But some of the ways that companies latch onto this particular good cause to push their products is suspect, bordering on outright exploitative.

First out of the traps is Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Tampa, Florida. So if you fancy gorging on hamburgers whilst gambling away your life savings for the cause, grab a cab to Heathrow now! They are running a "limited availability Pink Sheets guest room promotion including complimentary commemorative Hard Rock pin". Should you not feel pinked out enough you may wish to pop down to the gift shop to pick up a few pink bath robes, ‘collectible’ Hard Rock Pinktober charm bracelets, t-shirts, leather vests, sleepwear, travel mugs, bandanas, and pink-hued guitar-embossed, bedding. Between 15% and 25% of your cash will be donated to breast cancer research, depending on what you buy.


Alternatively you could stay sitting in front of your computer, take a few minutes to click on a link, fill in your card details and donate directly to your favourite breast cancer charity – which will receive 100% of the money. Then snuggle up on the sofa with a pink cushion and a cup of green tea to watch Downton Abbey, as I will be doing.

Far be it from Lily to judge. If you want to support breast cancer charities by filling your home with cheap tat, please be my guest. There is no harm in it. But I draw the line when companies start pushing pink ribbon products that contain ingredients known or highly suspected to promote breast cancer. This year’s top contenders for the Pink Hypocrisy award include American breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure for their fundraising perfume ‘Promise Me’. According to Breast Cancer Action’s ‘Think Before You Pink’ campaign the pink-ribboned scent contains: ‘Galaxolide - a synthetic musk that works as a hormone disruptor, and Toluene, a potent neurotoxicant.’ Honest injun!

‘Promise Me’ is joined by another of the usual suspects: Estée Lauder’s Elizabeth Hurley pink ribbon collection. I will eat one of those BHT, Octinoxate, Alumina and synthetic fragrance containing little pink sticks if anyone can tell me one constructive thing that our Liz has done to advance the cause of breast cancer prevention, other than show up at parties sponsored by Estée Lauder.