• Home
    • News
  • ABOUT
  • Our Impact
  • Get Involved
  • Donations
  • Member Login
    • Online Payments
Irene Dunne Guild
  • Home
    • News
  • ABOUT
  • Our Impact
  • Get Involved
  • Donations
  • Member Login
    • Online Payments

Think Pink: Listen to Your Body

6/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last year’s Think Pink fundraiser may have saved Brooke Crane’s life.
The 39-year-old mother of two heard the main speaker, Dr. Chloe Bird, repeatedly urge the mostly female audience to pay attention if they felt tightness above their bellybuttons and below their chins. Crane, a lifelong Palisadian, took note, but didn’t think it would happen to her.
That night it did.
“It sort of felt like a fat man was sitting on my chest,” Crane said. “So what did I do? Initially, I just ignored it.”
​
The timing wasn’t good. Her husband, Bryan, was out of town, it was raining, and she had chores to do like putting her two daughters to bed. In order to go to the emergency room, she’d have to get assistance, including someone to stay with her kids, Carly, 8, and Caroline, 6.
However, Bird had insisted that women in particular need to put their health first, and when Crane paused and listened to her body, she felt an “uh-oh feeling.”
She had some other issues that had seemed minor: a persistent cough and fatigue plus a small bump on her right clavicle that her doctor had thought was just a swollen lymph node due to a cold. However, when Crane checked in with herself, she felt concerned.
“Something wasn’t quite right, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about Dr. Bird’s advice: I matter. I deserve to slow down, listen to my body and take action if necessary,” Crane said.
It was lucky that she listened. When she and her mother-in-law Janie Crane got to St. John’s Hospital, she learned after a battery of tests that she had fluid around her heart and a mass in her chest. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a rare blood cancer that accounts for .5 percent of cancers, had struck her.
However, Crane caught it in time, beat it with 12 rounds of chemotherapy in a six-month treatment plan, and this year on May 11, was the main speaker at the Irene Dunne Guild’s Think Pink event at the Bel-Air Bay Club.
Instead of a doctor offering advice, Crane was able to provide information from the patient’s point of view to the almost 250 attendees who came to learn more about women’s health care.
Her top ten “take-aways” from this life-changing experience were:
1.) Make the first 48 hours after the diagnosis count. In her case, she and her loved ones channeled their intense emotions into research and calls that created a manageable path for her treatment.
2.) Talk to people who have been through something similar.
3.) Get multiple opinions. Crane resisted this at first as she immediately liked the hospital’s oncologist. But then she got a second opinion and a third. The third time was a charm. Dr. Lawrence Piro’s treatment plan, which included an ABVD chemo regime that he helped invent, was the perfect match for her and created a less intense path that didn’t require radiation.
4.) Be willing to say yes when people offer advice and help, and don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. For Crane, this meant she accepted private yoga lessons from a mom she’d never met and made new friends who aided her.
5.) Give people specific tasks/jobs—they want to help so let them. A friend took over her emails, and another coordinated meals for her. Others regularly accompanied her to chemo treatments.
6.) Write a blog or journal—or find some other way to communicate simply with people, so that the task of notifying people of treatment progress is easier.
7.) Take control in your own way, and don’t let the disease control you. For Crane, this meant she chose to shave her head whether she would end up needing it or not.
8.) Have an open mind—Crane chose to try jin shin jytsu, a helpful acupressure treatment for the pain and nausea of chemo.
9.) Have faith in a higher power. Crane said she “chose faith over fear.”
And finally, “number 10,” Crane said, “which I learned last year, right here in this room from Dr. Bird, and it probably saved my life: ‘Listen to your body.’”
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
Brooke Crane Photo: Glenn Marzano

Click here to link to original article in Palisades News

0 Comments

Think Pink Grand Prize Raffle Tickets on Sale

4/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

Recent Press in The Palisades News

6/17/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Visit www.palisadesnews.com to view entire issue with the article.
0 Comments

Think Pink Press in The Palisades Post

5/21/2015

0 Comments

 
Please click here for direct access to the article 'Think Pink Luncheon Focused on Women's Health' reported by Jacqueline Primo of the Palisades Post.
0 Comments

Think Pink for Women's Wellness 10th Anniversary

5/13/2015

0 Comments

 
PACIFIC PALISADES, CA - The Irene Dunne Guild hosted their 10th Anniversary Think Pink for Women's Wellness event at the Bel Air Bay Club with a sold out crowd.  The event featured morning educational sessions on various health topics and a keynote address presented by notable speakers:

(Keynote) Assessing and Addressing the Gender Gap in Women's Health Care - Chloe Bird, PhD
Legacy of Great Parenting - Robin Berman, MD
Happy Heart, Healthy Heart - Nicole Weinberg, MD, FACC
Skin & The Immune System - Delphine Lee, MD, PhD, FAAD
Bone & Joint Health - Timothy Davis, MD

There was also an extensive shopping boutique with a large selection offered. A portion of all boutique proceeds benefits the Guild's Patron Drive Fund, used to support programs and equipment in departments throughout Saint John's Health Center. To date, the Guild has raised over $900,000 with their annual Patron Drive Fund for the benefit of Saint John's.
Picture
Melinda Casey & Fran Flanagan, 2015 Think Pink Co-Chairs
Picture
Some Irene Dunne Guild members in attendance at Think Pink 2015.
0 Comments

Upcoming Event: Think Pink May 13, 2015

5/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Think Pink for Women's Wellness, an Irene Dunne Guild annual event, focuses on health education and awareness for women and their families. Always held near Mother’s Day, this year’s Think Pink date is May 13, 2015 at the Upper Bel Air Bay Club. 

Featuring morning breakout sessions with notable doctors and speakers, the event culminates in a wonderful luncheon and keynote speaker presentation. Hot topics have included Dermatology; Beauty and Aging; Breast Cancer; Children’s Health Through the Years; Fitness for All Ages; Addictions and many more. Boutique shopping is available throughout the event with proceeds going toward programs, equipment and services at Saint John’s Health Center. 

For more information or to purchase tickets or a table, please contact us: 
  • Tel: 310-829-8424  
  • Email Contact@IreneDunneGuild.org
0 Comments

    News

    Articles, events and press releases featuring the Guild

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2021
    April 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    June 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Caregiver Support
    Caritas Gala
    Charity Sale
    Events
    Guild Leaders
    In The Media
    Patron Drive Gifts
    Think Pink

    RSS Feed

For information about joining the Guild or attending our events, please contact our Corresponding Secretary at idgcorrespondingsec@gmail.com or contact Saint John's Health Center Foundation.  We look forward to hearing from you!
Saint John's Health Center Foundation
2121 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Phone (310) 829 8424
​ Guild members act as goodwill ambassadors to the community and are dedicated to supporting the charitable objectives of the Health Center 
​by active volunteerism and raising funds.
  • Home
    • News
  • ABOUT
  • Our Impact
  • Get Involved
  • Donations
  • Member Login
    • Online Payments