Open Letter

With each passing year I find myself counting my blessings and remembering those that have lead the path before me. For the 3rd year in a row our little team has exceeded the money brought in from the previous year bringing our totals for those years to more than $50,000! All of this money has gone to Susan G. Komen in the fight against breast cancer and no doubt has helped many women in the St. Louis area to prevent, fight and beat cancer. You are the reason for our success and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

As many of you now know, I was diagnosed with triple negative invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer when I was in high school at only 17 years old. As I endured the fight of my life I met a selfless woman named Gwen Randal who helped me learn some incredible lessons in life. Gwen was a survivor herself and had beat cancer 7 times before it took her life January 2nd, 2008.

As part of a mentorship, Gwen was told of my “special case” and let me know that she was there to listen and to answer any questions that I might face in this situation. She just wanted me to know that I wasn’t alone. It took me a while before I could talk to her. I felt like she wouldn’t understand me either. But she was so kind and patient. One situation sticks out in my head that sums up how wonderful Gwen was. My mom and I were getting our yearly mammograms and I was called back because they found a spot that they wanted to get another look at. When we heard that news my mother and I sat in the waiting room crying hysterically in each other’s arms. We did not want to go through all of this again. Out of nowhere Gwen was there. She had no idea we would be there but out of the blue there was an extra set of arms around us. She told us that it was all going to be ok. Even if it were bad news, everything would be ok. She listened, offered us prayers and calmed us down. As it turns out, the spot ended up being nothing to worry about and we all went on our way. I found out weeks later that the news didn’t end up ok for Gwen. On that same day Gwen had received bad news. In fact, she was probably walking out of her appointment when she saw us. She was so selfless that she never brought up her own pain. After all of these years I still cry thinking about all of that. She was strong for me when I couldn’t be strong for myself and never asked for anything in return.

We started Alissa's Hope to honor Gwen's memory and to continue her service to others. She was very involved with the community and I like to think that we carry on that spirit and love for life with every event that we do.

2011 brought many blessings in our lives. The first was the birth of our beautiful daughter who has ignited our passion to find a cure not just for breast cancer but all cancers. I also discovered this year that I do not carry the gene mutations for breast cancer and that a lump that was discovered is not cancerous. 2011 was also my 11th year breast cancer free!

This year we are proud to announce our third annual PINKAPALOOZA Trivia Night. It is a huge undertaking and a great show even if you aren't that great at trivia. In light of all of our blessings in the past year we are looking into spreading the wealth to include some other very deserving charities. We will continue to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure but will also be donating a portion of this year's fundraising to Siteman Cancer Center as well as St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Each year that we do this, we look forward to meeting new people and hearing new stories of hope and success. We look forward to seeing familiar faces and knowing that we have made a lasting impression (and some fans!) And most of all we enjoy being able to make a difference and pay it forward. The good feelings that we get from helping others has inspired people to take the initiative to start their own events and volunteer and have invited us into their own causes. It has been fun getting to know everyone and being part of a circle of hope!

We look forward to the opportunity to share our story with more people and to promote awareness of this disease. Our fundraising efforts aren't over until we can say that our children can grow up in a world without breast cancer. We pray that that day comes soon and we know that we can do it with the help of people like you. Together we make a difference.

I really appreciate you taking the time to learn a little about me and the causes that you are supporting. If you would like to see the interviews from previous years, please scroll down and click on the links below. Also, please join us on Facebook to learn more about our sponsors, friends and to be the first to know about our events.

Thanks so much for your support!

Sincerely,
Alissa Nicks