14k yellow and white gold

Pink sapphires represent breast cancer

Diamonds represent number of cancer-free years

Because I know other people want to celebrate being cancer-free, too, I designed the charm so any cancer survivor can wear a version of it. Support ribbon charms, tie tacks, and charm bracelets can be customized with different color stones for different types of cancer, such as cervical cancer –white sapphire, ovarian cancer – London blue topaz, colon cancer - smoky quartz, and lung cancer - diamond. (See the web site for options and prices, including adding stones.)

I’m not a marketing guru. This is not a get rich scheme. I did have the charm patented so that no one could market it for profit. I’ll donate up to 5% of the proceeds to The American Cancer Society.

Here’s my story:

It all began in late 1998, when I was only 28 and my life changed forever. The doctors told me that I had an unusual type of breast cancer for someone my age. (I had what is called an infiltration ductal carcinoma with circumscription and plasma cell infiltration.)

The doctors told me I’d need to undergo a partial mastectomy and have 6 months of chemo and 7 weeks of radiation treatments. I cried a lot that first day, but without really understanding what lay ahead. They say that cancer doesn’t hurt; in my case, they were wrong. My very aggressive, fast-growing cancer was very painful. But I knew I had to deal with it, and I tried to stay optimistic. In fact, I handled it all so well that everyone around me couldn’t believe how strong I was. They told me that if they didn’t know better, they’d think I was normal and healthy.

As a single working woman that lived alone at the time, I was very grateful for the support from all my friends and family. Sure—I got sick, lost most of my hair, and gained a ton of weight, but I just kept telling myself, I can beat this; it’s no big deal. When I finished with chemo, I had to have another biopsy, but this time the results were negative. I had survived. I had faced the “C” word and won. It was time to put it all behind me and get on with life. I thought I would be able to do just that.

Those were brave words, but between 1998 and 2001 I had a total of 9 biopsies and surgeries. About 6 months after finishing all my treatments and surgeries, I had a nervous breakdown, probably because everything just piled up so much: I split up with a long time boyfriend, I had to go to the doctor every other day, and I had to keep up with my full-time job. All the side-effects of the treatments began to overwhelm me, like the short-term memory loss, constant fatigue, foods tasting different, and my raging hormones. Even though I was young, I knew that I could die, that I had had cancer.

It was also hard for me to deal with the age factor. Often, people would look at me in the doctor’s office and say “what are you doing here? you’re so young!” Most of the people I met that had cancer were so much older than me. They had families--husbands, wives, children, grandchildren. I felt so alone, and the thought that I might not be able to have children began to bother me.

All in all, after nearly 5 years of battling cancer, my former optimism took a nose-dive; life was not looking all that great. I didn’t feel very friendly anymore. I had become a sad, unhappy person.

I knew I had to do something. After my hard fight to beat cancer I just couldn’t let it control my life anymore. I joined a support group. The chemo and radiation saved my life, but the support group saved my spirit and gave me back my life. We would say, “This is our second chance at life.” Many people never get that chance.  

Everyone says that reaching your 5-year mark of being cancer-free is a huge accomplishment and that things usually look up from that point on. For me, that anniversary means so much, more even than my birthday. When I was getting ready to celebrate my 5-year anniversary, I wanted something special to celebrate and commemorate my “second chance—my new life.” I searched and searched for that special something. But I couldn’t find what I wanted—a special piece of jewelry that I could add a stone to every year to celebrate another anniversary. It was then that I decided to design my own. By the time I had designed my ribbon charm and the jeweler could produce it, I was celebrating my 6 year anniversary and had to ask the jeweler to another stone!

I wear my ribbon charm every day and never take it off. I’m proud to wear it. I want to show everyone how many years I have celebrated in my “second chance—my new life.” In a way, it’s my good luck charm: If I get stressed or things aren’t going so well, I rub it to remind myself of what I have been through and that nothing will or can keep me down. Knowing what joy my ribbon brings me and how strongly I feel about my charm, I decided to produce it for other survivors so that they may also celebrate their “second chance—their new life.”

If you want to celebrate your cancer-free anniversaries the way I do, please contact me at:

The Ribbon of Life, LLC

Annette Jemente

info@theribbonoflife.com