Calendar shows joy of living

Photo and story by Sunny Manary

A local group of cancer survivors have created a calendar with all proceeds benefiting Relay for Life, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer. The Hot Flashing Lumpy Ladies are a support group of breast cancer survivors posing in boudoir style photographs.

Cathlamet resident Ruth “Ruthie” Doumit is the calendar’s Ms. November. The photography was all donated by Mr. C’s photography studio in Longview, and most pictures were taken in the studio, but Ruthie’s was done in a private home.

She joked that the only thing she is wearing in her photo is her mother’s jewelry and a smile. Ruthie lost both her mother and her mother-in-law to cancer five years ago within three months of each other.

“I did this in honor of them,” she said.

Ruthie is admittedly shy, but this calendar helped her come out of her shell, as it did with many of the other ladies, she said.

“You say, ‘why not?’ You’ve got this second life and surviving cancer makes you live your life so much better and fuller. You do things you might not ever thought you wanted to or could do. It’s a very liberating thing for everybody.”

The models in the calendar are all breast cancer survivors and range in age from 38-72. But breast cancer doesn’t discriminate. Women in their 20’s to their 90’s can fall victim as well.

Ruthie is a two time cancer survivor. The first time she was diagnosed, questions floated in her head like, “Am I going to live or die? Am I going to see my kids grow up?,” It was a very scary feeling. But she said she got through it. Then seven years later, panic again.

In 1993, during a routine self-exam, Ruthie discovered a lump in her breast. This time, she said her reaction was different. She wasn’t as scared; she had faith that she would be alright.

After her diagnosis, Ruthie and her son, Tim, created a collage of photography tell the story about her experience with cancer. Words like: oncology, chemotherapy, diet, family and courage frame the pictures. “It was my way of healing myself,” she said.

Someone saw the work and asked her to be a keynote speaker for the American Cancer Society (ACS), so for the next three years, she did. Ruthie didn’t think she would have anything to say, but as it turns out, she did.

“I’m very much a part of the ACS. I don’t need to go to the support group meetings, but I go because I am support for other people,” she said.

The monthly support group meetings held in Longview are both fun and serious at the same time. “We let them know they can be survivors.”

A piece of artwork on display at the Downtown Gallery in Cathlamet entitled, “Garden of Guardian Angels” overlooks the dining area below. Ruthie said she originally designed it for an art show in Longview the week of her mother’s death.

The premise of the show was for breast cancer survivors to tell their story through art. The pieces were to be auctioned off with proceeds going to the ACS, but because the piece was of such great importance to her, Ruthie purchased the work herself. “It has touched a lot of people.”

Most people have been touched by cancer in some way, Ruthie explained. “It touches just about everybody these days.” She doesn’t hide the fact she has had cancer. She lets people know so she can be a support system for them.

The annual exams can still be nerve-wracking.

“I try to do everything preventative for anything, just to be on guard for anything,” she said. “If you have had it twice, what is going to come next?” That is kind of the feel.

Ruthie said she tries not to think like that, however. “I just live my life to the fullest and do everything I ever think I want to do.” Her best advice is to never say, “I wish I would have done that; just do it!”

In 1990, Ruthie went back to school to become a registered nurse. After a couple years of college, she had a nursing scholarship and a place was waiting for her in the nursing program at Lower Columbia College, but she needed to make a command decision.

If she became a nurse, she would be unable to spend time with family when she needed to be. It turned out to be a good decision, as she was diagnosed soon after. “I wanted to try it and I did.” She could put her family and her artwork first. “I could help people with my art instead of being a nurse.”

Her next venture is to reopen her studio to the public. “I am hoping to get people to be able to come here and enjoy what I do.”

The “Hot Flashing Lumpy Ladies” calendar is available for $10 at the Downtown Gallery. All proceeds benefit Relay for Life.