Oct 08, 2007 - 04:01:49 CDT
Bismarck Tribune
By TONY SPILDEBy TONY SPILDE
No one noticed the scar on her neck, the rosy pink line that ran horizontally for almost two inches across her throat.
They didn't see it because they weren't looking.
So when Tara Lacher climbed the steps to the podium at this summer's Relay for Life banquet, not a soul in the room noticed anything different about her.
Until she opened her mouth.
"I joined your family today," were the five words she chose to open her speech, one she had rewritten in her head as she walked to the microphone.
Four hours before Lacher spoke at the June 1 rally, which raises money to fight cancer, her doctor told her she had the disease. The scar on her neck had come from a scalpel. A biopsy revealed she had thyroid cancer.
"There were 300 people in attendance, and you couldn't hear a person in that room breathe," Lacher said. "I shared with them my story that I had been diagnosed four hours earlier with cancer. Everyone was just amazed that I was there, but I'd made a commitment, and I was going to follow through on that commitment."
It's that devotion that has endeared Lacher to so many in the community this past year. If you don't know her by name, chances are you've heard her alias: The Pink Scarf Lady.
For the last year, Lacher has been knitting pink scarves that she gives to women who have cancer. So far, she has donated 300 long, fluffy reminders that someone out there cares. The scarves have gone to old women, young women, poor women and rich women.
"Cancer can strike anyone at any time," she said. "It doesn't care who you are. You never know who it's going to be next. Iknow that better than ever now."
Pam Cook, who helped organize this year's Relay for Life, said Lacher's scarves have meant a great deal to the women who've received them. She invited Lacher to speak at the dinner before the relay.
"I don't think anybody really anticipated what was going to come out of her mouth,"Cook said. "We all thought she was going to talk about the scarves. When she made the announcement, it was just like dead silence. You could almost hear the emotion. People started crying."
After her speech, Lacher was presented with a pink scarf of her own.
"That's when it got pretty emotional for me,"she said. "Up until then, I was just soldiering on. But when Igot that scarf, and then the next day at the survivors' walk, it really hit me for the first time that I had cancer."
Doctors caught Lacher's thyroid cancer early, she said. Three lumps were removed from the right lobe, and the cancer is now in remission.
Her scare has only steeled her desire to help other women with the disease.
Lacher has given her effort a name, Hands to Hearts, and hopes to turn the nascent organization into a nonprofit. Already there are several people crocheting scarves and giving them to her - from a group of girls at a small school in Delaware to inmates at the penitentiary in Bismarck. Lacher's brother is taking a scarf with him to Israel to give to a client's daughter, and Lacher is currently making scarves for several women on the Standing Rock Reservation.
She also sent a scarf this summer to Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential hopeful John Edwards. Edwards, who has breast cancer, sent a note back to Lacher.
"Iappreciate that you took time from your busy life to think about me," Edwards wrote. "Your kindness lifts my spirits and your caring touches my heart."
Lacher would like to get people knitting and crocheting in communities across the country.
"When people pull together, it's just amazing what we can all do," she said. "These little things can mean a lot."
Lacher will have a booth at this year's Women's Health Summit at the Ramkota Hotel in Bismarck on Oct. 15. She also has her own Web site, http://www.mypinkscarf.com.
Lacher sells cosmetics full time for Mary Kay, and never thought she'd be this busy outside of her regular job. But it's not something she'll give up doing.
"I'll never stop. Never," she said. "If Ihear about a woman with cancer, they'll get a scarf. I'm the Pink Scarf Lady; it's what Ido. Every day is so much fun because I don't know whose day I get to make. Life is a joy."
(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@;bismarcktribune.com.)
Ellen S wrote on Oct 9, 2007 10:04 PM:
Carl Young wrote on Oct 9, 2007 7:43 AM:
awesome wrote on Oct 8, 2007 11:07 AM:
Millie wrote on Oct 8, 2007 10:03 AM:
sarahr wrote on Oct 8, 2007 9:42 AM:
Comments are reviewed for taste, tone and language before posting.
Some comments may be used in the Tribune's print edition.
We value and respect your privacy, but The Bismarck Tribune might
disclose certain information to governmental entities if served with subpoena.