A one-of-a-kind celebration: Event seeks to unite cancer survivors

Published 6:05 pm Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Circle of Life Celebration

What: A day for sister cancer survivors to gather and share in the joy of life’s journey.

When: 9:30 a.m.- 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 6. (Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.)

Where: Sequim Middle School, 301 W. Hendrickson Road.

Invited: Event is open to all women cancer survivors and women with cancer.

Cost: Free

More info: Call Olympic Medical Cancer Center patient navigator Susan Clements at 582-2845.

Susan Clements, patient navigator for Olympic Medical Cancer Center, claims she is not a grant writer by any means, but she decided to write a proposal for one of three grants nationally administered by the American Cancer Society from the Walgreens corporation.

To her surprise, Clements received the $20,000 grant she submitted and now is working within the confines of that grant to organize a day to unite, celebrate and educate women cancer survivors and women with cancer.

“I don’t think there has ever been anything like this offered on the Olympic Peninsula that I’m aware of,” Clements said. “I wish I could have opened the event to men, too, but the grant is specific to women.”

The Circle of Life Celebration will be held at the Sequim Middle School. Clements knew she needed to find a venue that had a large amount of space given more than 1,460 invitation were mailed to women located all over the peninsula.

The middle school proved favorable because the celebration is split into multiple workshops and thus Clements wanted a venue not only large enough, but one that had many rooms to accommodate the workshops.

Clements hopes to have at least a couple hundred women at the Circle of Life Celebration, but because she consciously decided to not require a RSVP, Clements has no way to anticipate the number of attendees. However, about 100 women already have taken it upon themselves to tell Clements they’re planning to come.

“I wanted this to be as barrier free as possible,” Clements said. “So I decided to not require an RSVP.”

There even will be gas cards available to cover any transportation expenses in order to make it as cost-free as possible for women to attend.

The workshops

Following registration where each woman can sign up for four of the 10 workshops being offered, a continental breakfast will be provided and the opening ceremony will kick off the activities.

For the remainder of the day workshops varying from creative dance, health food and fitness education to the exploration of recognizing the strength of each individual’s own story led by Elaine Grinnell, a renown Jamestown S’Klallam storyteller, will be offered.

Workshops include Dancing Your Inner Beauty, Yes, You Can Do Yoga! Making the Connection in Body and Mind, Fast Healthy Food, Masks of Courage, Drumming for Joy!, Fitstart, Guided Storytelling, Look Good Feel Better and The Reality Slap: An Exploration of Cancer, Trauma, Emotional Distress and Healing.

Clements further assured all the workshops scheduled throughout the day are thoughtfully led by experts in each field and are intended for women, no matter what their physical health and/or abilities are.

“I’m so excited to offer these types of workshops,” Clements said. “Throughout the day we’ll also have massage therapists providing hand and foot massages and henna tattoo artists and bindis, too.”

Women living on the peninsula don’t often get to participate in things like this because the Olympic Peninsula is somewhat geographically isolated from both resources and workshops that are “really quite readily available” in areas like Seattle, Clements said.

After nearly every workshop the women also will leave with a gift, such as a yoga mat from the yoga workshop, a cookbook from the Fast Healthy Food workshop or a skin and hair kit valued at $350 from the Look Good Feel Better workshop.

In addition to the grant, Clements anticipates about 30 volunteers from the community and support from the Olympic Medical Center Foundation to help make the celebration possible.

“The real reason I wanted to write for this grant is because I wanted to provide the opportunity for women to gather additional skills that they will use for life,” Clements said. “Also, women tend to share, so hopefully what women take away from this day also will be passed along.”

Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.