Rebeccah Neu, a three-time cancer survivor has been waging a personal battle against cancer since 1985. She knows that a sense of humor and the kind of support that she receives—and gives others—through the American Cancer Society are as important as any medicine.
In addition to the medical advancements that have helped her outlive the doctors’ predictions, she credits “my positive thinking, my healthy diet, and surrounding myself with an environment that is well informed and well educated, which you find at the American Cancer Society.”
When she lost her hair due to chemotherapy for uterine cancer, “The first thing I did was go to the Society’s Look Good Feel Better classes. I looked at my round peanut face, bald peanut head and lack of eyelashes and eyebrows, and thought, I need help,” jokes Rebeccah. Before she knew it, she was helping with the Look Good Feel Better classes.
“I taught women how to draw their eyebrows on. I made everyone laugh by drawing my own eyebrows at odd angles.” But, she’s serious when she says, “It’s amazing how a little bit of makeup can make a breast cancer patient feel better when she walks out the door.”
Thanks to the American Cancer Society, Rebeccah found support groups that helped her through the tough times.
“When I found out that my cancer had metastasized, it became scarier for me, so I wanted a small, intimate group of women.”
She found the right one by visiting several groups she looked up on the American Cancer Society website. Then, when she wanted a group that would include her husband, the website led her to a group customized to help patients’ families.
“People need to know they can ¬ nd anything and everything they need for cancer by calling or going on the American Cancer Society’s site,” says Rebeccah. “The site gives so much—so I decided to give back to the Society”.
After retiring from her job with a cancer research company, Rebeccah became a jewelry maker. She’s been creating breast cancer awareness jewelry, donating 25 percent of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society, and has raised more than $2,500 so far. You can visit her jewelry booth, for example, at the annual Peach Festival in August in Middletown. She donates all types of jewelry to auctions that support Relay for Life and Making Strides against Breast Cancer.
Rebeccah enjoys bringing bling to Wilmington’s Making Strides walk. This year, just as she did in 2011, you’ll see her wearing a pink wig and a pink T-shirt covered with 1,000 breast cancer ribbon pins embellished with rhinestones. She’ll hand out pins until her T-shirt is empty.
“It’s my way of making everyone a little more aware about breast cancer and the importance of finding cures for all kinds of cancer,” says Rebeccah.
