Curing Cancer...Creatively and Comedically

There have been so many amazing and supportive events going on involving The Cancer Couch, that I almost don't know where to start. The Mombie movement seems like a great place. It all started with this one very creative woman, Terry Davis, who lives in my town. She got a bunch of women together two Halloweens ago, to learn a choreographed dance routine to Michael Jackson's,Thriller. They dressed up like zombies, performed this "flash mob" dance to the delight of their kids, friends and neighbors...and that was it - just for fun. Or so they thought. Well, the video went viral and they knew something incredible had begun...

This year, Terry and her crew got to thinking they could do something powerful and good with the attention the video garnered. One of the dancers was our own Board member, Caryn Sullivan, of Pretty Wellness and a fellow MBC patient. The group had a heightened awareness of our plight to increase MBC funding.

They graciously decided to link TCCF website to the end of their video and direct people to donate once they finished viewing. To date, they have raised $14,469 - which will be doubled and rounded up (by an anonymous donor) to $30k. At their request, to keep some of the donations in our own community - we put ten percent into our Beth Davis fund for metastatic breast cancer patients in financial need at the Norma Pfriem Breast Center in town. Thank you #FairfieldMombies - you incredible, adventurous, cool, kind women!

But... this movement didn't stop there. In fact, it may actually just be getting started ... My sis Viv, and her unbelievably smart, passionate, and generous mom friends in Cheshire, CT hopped on board the Mombie Movement and just completed an unbelievably creative Mombie video themselves. This time, the holiday theme was love and Valentines day. They have brought in a whopping $6080 to date. That will also be rounded up and doubled - to make a total of 14K going straight to research from their efforts. Thank you so much ladies. Click here to see both videos and donate through their creative cause! (Terry Davis - creator of Fairfield Mombies in pic to left below; Maricele Riemann, Catherine Takizawa, Vivian Ciampi (my sis) & Neeta Vatti- the creators of the #CheshireMombies are in the photo on the right! You have to watch these videos - to see the amazing, creative performances these incredible mom dance crews, and volunteer video and dance professionals, pulled off! THANK YOU SO MUCH! They encourage you to start a Mombie movement near you for TCCF!

People are always so generous in asking how I am doing, so a quick update here on my health status: I am still taking part in a Phase Two clinical trial at MSKCC. It involves taking a combination of the drugs Ibrance and Casodex orally. It is really tolerable. It is working - as of my last scans - the cancer was stable and some areas receding. Cause to celebrate!

I just returned from an incredible girls' trip in Paris. It was magical. My good pal Kyla won this at The Cancer Beat and, in a very Oprah-esque moment, announced she was taking me! Some fantastic francophile friends (Nicole, Casey, Sarah, & Kathleen from the US, and representing the European contingency - Alicia, trained in from Zurich, and Kerri flew in from England) joined the fun. I really fell in love with the city this time around. I know my son Luca was truly baffled as to how I would have any fun there without him - as it was the last trip we took as a family before my diagnosis, - but somehow, I managed...(shhhh)

Taking Coco To Chemo: I couldn't resist wearing the awesome, vintage Channel coat I found at the Antique market in Paris to the cancer hospital the day after we got back, over my "spiritual gangster" yoga tank. I love Coco Channel, but not just for her killer, simple fashion brilliance. She is a fellow Leo, her birthday just one day before mine, and she is a proud, scrappy survivor lioness like me. Not only was she groundbreaking in using fashion to get women out of corsets and into comfortable and fashionable cloths, she learned to sew from nuns who raised her in an orphanage after her mom died. Who better to channel for some strength than Coco Channel? Here's to having cancer in style.

A few announcements: Please consider hosting a Scoops Challenge! It is a great way to get your kids involved and empowered. Our goal is to have one taking place in all 50 states...and beyond! Remember, we will donate 10% of the proceeds from your event to set up an angel fund in your name or a breast cancer patient in your community to help local mbc patients in financial need. So, please consider hosting a "Last day/or week/or month of school ​Ice Cream Scoops Challenge" in your community! If you want to learn more about hosting a scoops challenge at a local ice scream store in your town, please contact Paula Cunningham at pcunns9@gmail.com or Vicki Swanson at vickiswanson@hotmail.com, or Vivian Ciampi vmciampi@gmail.com if your event will be off site at a park or somewhere (not at an ice cream store)! They will set you up with everything you need to do this! Perfect feel good way to kick off summer! 

And finally, I'm going to go ahead and file this one under the category, "Oh the terminally ill...we think we can do anything!" Because that seems to be the delusional vantage point from which I was operating when I decided to try my hand, er, mouth - at stand up comedy. It is so hard but THE BEST distraction from cancer. I am really hooked on trying to make people laugh and am having so much fun just writing and laughing at the jokes myself. 
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If you are so inclined, and want to either laugh at or with me, and live anywhere near the NYC area, I am lucky enough to have the chance to perform, this Thursday evening March 8th, at 630pm, at the iconic New York Comedy Club. Click here for tickets and ... there is a bar next door where we can catch up after!

For those of you who missed my debut comedy shows in CT, and a huge thank you to those who came from all over (Rochester wins!), and liked it enough to come back (New material!) I am headlining at The Fairfield Comedy Club on April 6th at 9pm. Use Promo code REBECCA for a discount and Click here for tickets. Please come out and support local comedy and this amazing comedy club on their first Friday night show!! 

​A huge thank you to Tim Kerr from albatrosspros.com for the video! And the fabulous Lisa Garcia for the photography! Here is some footage of the debut night, courtesy of Photography by Lisa Garcia...
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(below - Joe and I in our sparkly shoes; Tim; and that's me in action...)

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