KOPMall partners with Komen Foundation
PattiGahagan loves to occasionally meet friends for lunchatKingof PrussiaMall, butby her own admission, she doesn’t do a lot of shopping when she’s there.
That all changed on Saturday when the Willow Grove resident, as the mall’s guest of honor, got to engage in some serious shopping on the mall’s dime.
Thanks to King of PrussiaMall’s partnership with the Philadelphia chapter of Susan G. Komen Foundation, the breast cancer survivor was treated to a BeMore Than Pink shopping spree with a $250 gift card in celebration of her “strength, goodwill and contributions to the community.”
Gahagan was just 31 years old when she found a lump in her breast and embarked on her brave journey through chemotherapy, radiation, a mastectomy and, ultimately, reconstructive surgery.
Through all of that, she found the time to start a support group, Young Breast Friends, meeting with and mentoring other young women to let them know they were not alone in what they were going through.
“I had gone to one support group and it wasmostly older women and it just wasn’t for me,” Gahagan recalled. “So then the Young Breast Friends was formed. I wasn’t actually the person who was supposed to run it — Iwas still going through my treatments and gettingmy own emotions and thoughts in control— but I quickly took over. I just had a knack for helping young women get past their fear and helping them take control of their lives and move forward fromtheir diagnosis… and being better for it.”
The group has about 75 members, largely though Facebook, explained Gahagan, whomarried her husband, Mike, about a year and a half ago.
“I know about 45 of them personally. A lot of them don’t come to meetings. They justwant the online support. We get anywhere fromfive to 12 people at our meetings,” she noted.
The groupmeets the third Thursdayof themonthat 45SecondStreet Pike, Southampton. To register, visit www.thehealingconsciousness.com.
Gahagan said she had a lot of fun deciding where to spend her newfound money Saturday.
“I loved it. It was such an unexpected experience and it’s such a beautiful mall. We went to somany stores, like H&M andWhite House BlackMarket, where I bought a couple of pairs of jeans and blouses,” she said.
Although Gahagan was greeted by the mall’s guest services manager, Matthew LeMay, when she arrived, she went about her shopping spree on her own.