Survivor supports others
Even after being told she was cancer-free in J anuar y 2011, 37-year-old Jennifer Wiseman of Bryant still found herself having lit tle breakdowns every now and then — throwing things and crying because she hated having to wear prosthetic breasts.
After discovering a lump in her breast in November 2010, Wiseman was officially diagnosed with breast cancer on Dec. 7, 2010.
“I underwent a lumpectomy the following week,” she said. “My double mastectomy was on Jan. 5, 2011, but due to an infection, I was not able to do reconstruction at the time of the mastectomy.”
She said she continued on with her life — doing everyday things, working and spending time with family and friends. But her prosthetic breasts were a constant reminder of her past.
“I hated how they looked and made me feel,” she said.
Two years later, in spring 2013, she found an organization called the Young Survival Coalition on Facebook, and
then online at www.young survival.org, and she loved their mission.
The Young Survival Coalition strives to raise awareness, provide resources and administer support for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer before their 40th birthday. This growing online community of young women connect with each other whether they are newly diagnosed or cancer survivors of many years.
“I applied for and was chosen as the first state leader for the Young Survival Coalition from the state of Arkansas,” Wiseman said. “This organization was relatively unknown here in Arkansas, so in late July or early August, I decided that I wanted to do a fundraiser with all proceeds benefiting the Young Survival Coalition.”
On a mission to spread the word about an organization that had helped her so much in her journey through breast cancer, she enlisted the help of other state leaders with the Young Survival Coalition and decided to try their “Bras for a Cause” fundraiser.
“I put out a call to an old friend, Amy Brown, to help plan and execute the event,” Wiseman said. “My first move after that was to find my celebrity bra designers.”
She put feelers out to many well-known individuals via Twitter, including actresses Debi Mazar and Kathy Najimy, and writer, producer and director Judd Apatow, but local celebrities such as first lady Ginger Beebe, Liz Massey of THV11, Bob Robbins of KSSN96, Donna Terrell of Fox16 and Nate Olson, editor of Sync magazine, signed on to design bras for the event.
Through Facebook and word-of-mouth marketing, the Bras for a Cause event gathered models — male and female alike — who expressed interest in volunteering.
The fundraising event, held earlier this month at Cornerstone Pub and Grill in North Little Rock, drew approximately 100 people who raised almost $3,700. Wiseman said the total keeps going up because of donations that continue to come in from people all over the country.
She believes she absolutely got the word out about the Young Survival Coalition.
“No one in Arkansas had ever heard of the organization and what it can do for women before this event happened,” Wiseman said. “Hopefully, now we will be able to start a support group here in central Arkansas for young survivors.”
Wiseman plans on making the Bras for a Cause fundraiser an annual event. She received requests during, and even before, the event from people wanting to volunteer their time and services for next years event.
“Television and radio personalities volunteered to be my emcees, and more and more people wanted to sign up to model or be on some sort of committee,” she said. “I was so thrilled that the event went as well as it did.”
“I never dreamed that two months worth of blood, sweat, texting, tweeting, emailing — you name it — would come together to create the event that I was honored to be the head of,” Wiseman said. “I am truly blessed by all of the wonderful people that I have encountered.”