I found an article in the Glamour magazine recently about your organization and decided that definitely this is what I was going to do. I wanted to help someone else in need. I wanted to make someone else feel special. Just like I did in my dress. Someone who may not be able to afford it. Take one thing off their stress list. I saw this dress on the rack and said wow, that’s the one. I hope they do the same. I just felt like a princess for the day. I want to do that for someone. My family has gone through so much with the cancer. I hope that some day soon there will be no more cancer. My husband also lost his previous wife

to pancreatic cancer.

We’ve prayed alot, learned a lot and watched a horrific illness and diagnosis change us for ever, but in many ways for the better. We grew to know that cancer affects everyone, affecting everyone not just the person being treated. When we learned about our cancer community support group, we found so many going through the same things, chemo/radiation, job changes, explaining to children, and watching kids pitch in to try and make it better.

We put our wedding plans on hold, there was so much to balance and yet we seemed so unbalanced, and we found peace, support and love through our cancer support community.

ON June 14, 2013, David and I will marry, with our families, and closest friends…Dave is still here! He is cancer free, the PET scans continue to be negative, and we rejoice the stage four throat cancer is gone. Now its my chance to give back, and I hope that someone feels as blessed in my gown as I do!

I’m donating my gown so that others can benefit, because Dave is still here, and we’re still here… and stronger than ever! Our dreams came true… and now I’m hoping to make another person’s life changing experience surreal, blessing with family, friends and those you love!

We could never give back all that was given to us…

In addition to finding my dress, the entire experience of having my mom there by my side, as well as both survivors and family members of survivors, made the act of picking out a wedding dress one of the most important and amazing days of my life. Aside from the fact that I will be wearing this dress on my wedding day, the proceeds of the dress will go to a cause that is personally very important to me. I could not have asked for a more touching, beneficial, and fun experience! Thank you!

The staff that was there that day were very kind and helpful they bustled about bringing me dress after dress. I mentioned to them about my friend and my hope to show my support and help in the fight against breast cancer in her name. Then …I tried on a dress and when I turned and looked in the mirror I could not help but to shed a tear. It was “the one” and what made it more special is that my thoughts were on my dear friend. All the staff in the area came around me and took pictures and applauded. It was truly a special moment.

I could not wait to tell Andrea. I was so excited for her to see me in the dress on my wedding day. However that was not to be as my friend lost her battle with breast cancer. I plan to donate this dress to the cause of a breast cancer cure because this dress is special. It has a power of the memory of a dear friend who would be pleased that the dress will carry on the battle against breast cancer.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my story

I do hope you call on me the next time you are in Santa Clara.

I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer June 98. My youngest son (almost 6), after watching his Dad shave his Mom’s head said “Dad, you can shave mine too” So sweet of him.

These days both the boys hardly remember this as they were so young. My eldest was 8 at the time. I cried when I first learned I was going to lose my hair but I decided it wasn’t going to get me down. I would tell my friends that I would keep the abreast of the situation. Wink, wink! My favorite memory was being able to Trick or Treat with the kids as GI Jane. My hubby camo-painted my whole head and I borrowed his hunting outfit and my son’s rifle. It was one of the most fun Halloween’s we had! My hubby was so supportive and even wrote notes on my skin to make the radiation techs smile too! Good thing because I had to be supportive of him 5 years later when he underwent a nasty bout with testicular. The main thing for us was to remain positive and look for the fun in everything and also the love and support of family and friends.

My mother, little sister, & I were helped by Karen who was amazing, the Director of the show – Mya, & an ENTOURAGE of fabulous volunteers. It was an incredible experience with not only my Mom & Sis being a part of the finding of the dress, but also the VOLUNTEERS who really turned the event into a special “Say YES to the Dress” moment for me!

I absolutely love my dress! I am PROUD to share with everyone where I found MY DRESS & plan to showcase this fantastic Non-Profit at my wedding.

I got married in November 2010. The wedding was awesome and I was so grateful to everyone who made it so special. The whole experience made me appreciate how incredibly fortunate I was.

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In 2011, shortly after celebrating 10 years, she was diagnosed with breast cancer again. Although she fought hard for 2 years and put on a brave face, she was not so fortunate this time. While we were gathered around her hospice bed, our mom passed away just last week – less than a month from her 54th birthday.

My mom was a very generous person and loved helping anyone she could – in her honor, I am donating my dress.

I went to try on this one dress and as soon as I walked out i had tears in my eyes I absolutely loved it and everyone else loved it as well. I put it to the side to try on others and I ended up going back to it two more times. Every time I put it on I cried. We were there for 5 hours and still to this day I couldn’t tell you when it made it in to my dressing area, and no one remembered pulling it but I believe it was definitely made for me. It fits quite well and I barely need any alterations for it but I still cant believe that it made it to my dressing room and I am thankful I went because I would have never went to the store and tried it on.

That day I definitely think my grandmother was looking over me and helping me make my decision. I really do have to say I think this is a great organization and am so glad that I heard about it and had the experience.

Thank you so much.

And even if it did, what was I “preserving” it for? No one else in my family or close circle of friends was likely to wear it. It was too distinctive. And, if I’m being honest, I realize that not everyone sees the appeal of a dress that walks so fine a line between “swan” and “chicken”.

I also think that wedding dresses have their moments. I don’t know a single women around my age who wore her mother’s dress. Our mothers’ dresses may be beautiful, but they look old-fashioned. As a generation raised to be independent, each of us wants to do her own thing. I won’t kid myself into thinking my hypothetical daughters will be any different. I probably wouldn’t want them to be.

I knew I could sell the dress, but it felt weird to put a price tag on so sentimental an object. I also doubted I’d get much for it. The dress was easily the most expensive dress I’ve ever owned, but even so the price was fairly modest (some people spend more on their cell phones). Some friends suggested re-purposing it into another kind of object. I joked that I could probably turn it into a down pillow just by turning it inside out. But that felt weird, too. It was a dress. A special dress. I didn’t want it to be anything else.

I hung onto it without too much serious examination until our one-year anniversary (moving it across the country twice—carefully). Then I started to worry about the dress aging. I really didn’t want to unzip its garment bag one day and have it not be beautiful. To me, that would be much sadder than having it not be there at all.

So, I went into research mode. There are more than 2 million weddings in the US every year. What are people doing with all these dresses? After much searching and thinking, I found what seemed to me to be the perfect solution: Brides Against Breast Cancer.

I loved the idea that my wedding dress would be another person’s wedding dress. I so loved wearing it and it made me really happy to think about someone else feeling the same way. The fact that it would be someone who might not otherwise be able to afford the dress of their dreams just made it sweeter. I could also imagine this other wearer preserving the dress for her daughter or granddaughter, making it into something new, or watching it age as she did. Wedding dresses are treasured objects and I knew my dress would be in good hands with Bride #2.

And then there is the money it would bring in, the wishes it would help grant. I spent a lot of time on BABC’s website reading about the work that they do (and, yes, crying a fair bit). The women they help are so strong and grateful. And their wishes are so humble. One woman asked for a video camera so she could tape a message to her yet-unborn grandchild. Another woman asked for a plane ticket so she could properly say good-bye to her mother. These seem like such basic things: the ability to be remembered, or to say good-bye. It hadn’t occurred to me that some people wouldn’t have them. After spending some time reading their letters, it was obvious to me what I’d do with my dress. It seemed so fitting and perfect and clear and…inevitable, really.

I could make this a much longer story if I included the six months it took for my sweet, sentimental husband to be ready to let it go, or how I almost gave the dress to him instead. I could tell you what it felt like to put the dress on one last time, in the middle of our crappy apartment in Pittsburgh, barefoot, my hair undone.

I could also write about finding a box just the right size and packing the dress away. The walk to the post office. Watching the box disappear behind the counter. But the only important thing to say is how good it felt.

Yesterday I sent the dress away. Today I looked at some wedding pictures. Seeing the dress in them, I didn’t feel sad or wistful. Instead, I thought about my dress’s future, where it will go, what it will do. Now, it’s even more beautiful to me.