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Pink Dish! Stories from the Let's Dish! Family
Breast cancer strikes families, not individuals. Here are a few Pink Dish! Stories from the Let’s Dish! team in Maryland and Northern Virginia.
We've learned first hand how breast cancer changes a family's day-to-day reality and how much our dishes can help save time, stress and money at home. These and all the Pink Dish! Stories shared with us are the inspiration behind the Pink Dish! Campaign. 
Share and Read More Pink Dish! Stories
Please help us create a narrative of courage and strength: add your Pink Dish! Story or take a moment to read Pink Dish! stories shared by others. For each Pink Dish! Story we receive, we will donate $5.00 to the Pink Dish! Campaign.
Lisa Hardiman, Co-Owner
(Let’s Dish! locations in MD and Northern VA)
Oh, we all know the drill - you turn 40 and it’s time for the dreaded mammogram. So, I turned 40 and several months later went for my annual check-up and the doctor asks about the lump on the right breast and whether I was aware of it. Yes, I was but it wasn’t the size of a pea, like I had been told to be concerned about – more like a walnut. I assumed she would look at it and tell me what to do – mammogram and sonogram immediately was the answer. Of course, still in denial, I assumed it was nothing and went for that dreaded first mammogram (by the way – not so bad) to learn that not only did I have a large lump on the right side, I had several smaller lumps on the left side. Biopsy was next and then waiting. In the meantime, I had PET/CTs, x-rays, blood work and countless consultations with doctors to learn, that yes indeed, I had breast cancer – rather aggressive and in both breasts. Because of how aggressive it was, I chose to have an immediate bi-lateral mastectomy and started chemo 6 weeks later.
I finished my last round of chemo at the end of December, 2007 – lost my hair (again, not so bad – worse to think about it), gained the weight, was always tired but happy that things look good and how grateful I am with the treatments we have available to us. Still have a few more rounds of a miraculous drug called, Herceptin, which goes after a gene called HER-2 Nu. I will be on Tamoxifin for at least 5 years but that thankfully can be taken orally. My hair is coming back in (feels baby soft and even has some curl to it which I never had before) and I have started the reconstruction process. One year later, I am a healthy happy 41 years young and loving every day!
I live every day with HOPE (that word means so much to a person with cancer and it looks so much better all in caps). HOPE that those dealing with treatments will have success like I did and HOPE that one day soon we will be able to eradicate breast cancer and others like it.
Alexa Corcoran, Co-Owner
(Let’s Dish! locations in MD and Northern VA)
It happens in a day. One unbelievable, stunning day you find out that the woman you know – the most capable, upbeat, beautiful and seemingly healthy friend you know – has breast cancer. It may be the day that she’s diagnosed or the day she tells you she’s a survivor, but it is a moment in time that stops you from thinking about your “To Do List” and makes you start your “Why I’m Blessed” list.
This year, Lisa’s diagnosis and fight has changed my whole perspective on what Breast Cancer Awareness Month really means. And, I feel proud that I have been a part of building a business that makes a difference in the everyday lives of all our Let’s Dish! families – those with serious illness or just living busy, hectic lives. Our meals go to families that need them – how lucky am I to have this job?
I saw Lisa face a bi-lateral mastectomy and come out with a focus on cute pajamas and her kids, not how she can’t reach up to the kitchen cabinets to make dinner. I watch her recover from chemo with a focus on how predictable it is that she’ll feel bad and knowledge she’ll feel better tomorrow – so put on that scarf or wig and head back into life. Elizabeth’s story as a “previvor,” the loss of her mother, and her brave and life-changing decision to preemptively beat cancer before it beat her, redefined strength for me.
Both their stories – and all the Pink Dish! stories shared here – make me realize that we are given but one life to live, and that survival is the true definition of courage and hope.
Elizabeth Marcotte, Co-Owner
(Let’s Dish! locations in MD and Northern VA)
This is very hard for me to write. All I can think about is how much I miss my mother and how much I worry that the research will not have progressed enough by the time my daughter needs it. My cancer experience is more about the sadness that I feel each day as a result of the loss of so many close relatives in my life.
I am what is known as a “previvor.” That’s someone who beat breast cancer before they were even diagnosed. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what disease you will get before you get it so you can fight it before it strikes? Well, that’s what happened to me. Here’s my story.
When I was 19 my Grandmother lost her battle to ovarian cancer. When I was 23 her sister, my Great Aunt, lost her battle to ovarian cancer. When I was 28 my Mother’s cousin was taken by breast cancer. When I was 30 I lost my Mother who was also my best friend. She had breast cancer too.
Can you imagine being a young mother of two and waiting each day for your turn to be diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer? Despite 11 years of doctors wanting me to be “vigilant” about testing and clean results, I lived a life of paranoia. I worried from one visit to the next and I waited by the phone for bad news. That’s no way to live your life.
I arranged for a genetic test to determine if I had the BrCa1 mutation. They showed me the statistics – and it is true that having the mutation did not necessarily mean I would get breast or ovarian cancer, or if I did, that there was a chance I could beat it. I realize that there are cancer survivors all over the world. I am happy for every one of them. I’m just not related to any of them. In my gut I knew that in my family a diagnosis was most certainly a death sentence.
They drew my blood and I waited. A few weeks later, my husband and I walked into the office of the Genetic Counselor with much trepidation when we were called in to get my results. I did have the genetic mutation. Moments later, with no hesitation at all, I was walking down the hall to set up appointments with the breast surgeon, the plastic surgeon and the gynecological oncologist. My mind was set and I decided to do whatever I had to do. I needed to eliminate my chances of getting this dreadful disease.
I decided to have the mastectomy, the reconstruction and the oopharectomy all at once. The surgery lasted for many hours and the recovery was really hard. There were people who thought I was crazy to walk into the hospital and take such a radical approach to beating a disease that I may never get. Well, guess what? The pathology revealed that I had “atypical” cells in one breast. At the ripe old age of 33 I was already on my way to breast cancer. It was living and growing inside of me. I wouldn’t have known about it until some time later when the mass grew big enough to be felt or detected on film. No one thinks I’m crazy now.
When we see people who have cancer or hear about them we think about chemotherapy, radiation, hair loss and nausea. We think about 5-year survivors. I consider myself lucky that I didn’t have to experience any of that. However, if I hadn’t done what I did then my story would have been like countless others.
Over the years so many people have told me that I am brave or even call me a hero. I really don’t see it that way. I only did what I had to do.
Holly Wildberger, Menu Development Coordinator
(Let’s Dish! locations in MD and Northern VA; Regional headquarters in Baltimore, MD)
I just wanted to share my story of how breast cancer has touched my family. It is more of a story to spread awareness. Everyone knows the usual story of how mammograms detect breast cancer in women so that it can be treated. This was not the case with my 67-year old father. During a routine check-up, my dad mentioned to his doctor that occasionally he had a pain in the side of his chest (not that he ever mentioned that to anyone else…). Upon examination, the doctor suspected a breast tumor. He was sent immediately for mammograms and biopsies.
I remember when my mom told me about this. At this time, none of us realized that men could be diagnosed with breast cancer. We thought that it would just be some kind of infection or something- NEVER even thinking that it could be breast cancer. Well, the results came back, and it was, in fact, breast cancer. The doctor explained to us that it is rare that men are diagnosed with breast cancer (I think less than 1% of all breast cancer cases were men,) but, nonetheless, they are susceptible to it as well as women.
My dad had a radical mastectomy, and went through rather aggressive chemo and radiation treatments. Over a year later, he is doing well! Each check-up finds him in great health.
Tammy McHenry, Host
(Let’s Dish!, Leesburg, VA)
In 2001, I was 38 years old and was diagnosed with a very aggressive case of breast cancer. I had 8 rounds of chemo, a bone marrow stem cell transplant and then 33 doses of radiation. I had amazing support from my family, friends and church family. I've been blessed to be cancer free for the last 6 years. It is my hope that from our stories others will realize that regular mammograms are not a nuisance, they are ESSENTIAL. Also, no matter how severe, breast cancer is not an automatic death sentence.
I’ve been using the dishes from Let’s Dish! as a way to get myself back in shape after my recovery. Controlling portions and calories has been helpful. However, best of all it reduces my stress of managing two kids and a busy life.
(Tammy first became a customer when she shared dishes with a friend at a Let’s Dish! session in Ashburn, VA, in October of 2005. She began working for Let’s Dish! in November 2006.)
Thank you for reading our Pink Dish! Stories. We hope you'll share your own story now!
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