By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Vicki Girard realized it was good news when her doctor told her she'd have to take chemotherapy for a year to kill the breast cancer that had eaten into her sternum, ribs, head, neck, shoulder and lung.

The doctor was the first physician willing to assume the Columbiaville, Mich., woman would be alive in a year.

To Mrs. Girard, who has survived stage IV breast cancer twice, the most important medicine any cancer patient can receive is hope.

Hope for the future is the message behind the Pink Ribbon Project, which Mrs. Girard helped kick off in the Tristate Wednesday.

Through the project, 1,000 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in Greater Cincinnati will receive gift bags and a dose of hope - along with a lot of TLC - when they get their diagnosis. The bags will be available in January.

"Cancer has to be fought mind, body and soul, and you've packed a little something in that bag for all three," Mrs. Girard says.

The Pink Ribbon Project got its start in Wilmington, N.C., with breast cancer survivor Alyson Barnard, who wanted doctors to be able to hand patients something hopeful after a diagnosis. Mrs. Barnard moved to North Carolina from Hyde Park nine years ago.

Mrs. Barnard, the former owner of Alyson's on Hyde Park Square, used her experience to determine what should go into the gift bags: a copy of Dr. Bernie Siegel's Love, Medicine and Miracles (Harper Perennial; $14), a journal and crayons so women can record their healing journey, a meditation tape and portable tape player, peppermints, a pink satin pillowcase so they can rest comfortably once the cancer treatment makes their hair fall out, a lavender eye mask and a copy of Mrs. Girard's book, There's No Place Like Hope (Compendium Inc.; $14.95).

"When I received my diagnosis, I felt disoriented and overwhelmed and lonely and the little girl inside was frightened," says Mrs. Barnard. "The hardest part was not knowing how to start the journey."

The project has spread from here to High Point, N.C., and will make its way to Connecticut. Mrs. Barnard hopes to make the Pink Ribbon Project a national initiative.

Penny Pomeranz of Indian Hill spearheaded the project: "We want women to know they're not alone and if we can provide something of comfort to them, then let's do it." .

When Mrs. Girard was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989, friends whispered to her that they'd been through cancer. They were too embarrassed to say it aloud, she says. She had a lumpectomy and chemotherapy and radiation and was declared cancer-free.

In 1991, she started having sharp pains in her shoulder. She feared her cancer had returned, but doctors kept telling her it was arthritis or bursitis and that she was too fearful. By the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread to the bone, her doctor told her it was terminal. Three more doctors told her nothing could be done and she should focus on enjoying the time she had left. It wasn't until the spring of 1992 that Mrs. Girard found a doctor willing to outline a treatment plan for her. She had a bone marrow transplant and, again, was told she was cancer-free.

In June 2001, a lymph node behind her sternum tested positive for cancer. A few months later, she underwent surgery to remove the cancerous cells that had grown around her heart. She had a second bone marrow transplant in March, and in September, the doctors gave her the all-clear again.

If she'd listened to the first doctor who told her she was terminal, she says now, "You'd be hearing a different speaker today."

Fund-raising for the Pink Ribbon Project is continuing. The gift bags will be distributed through doctors' offices. As part of the effort, ProScan Women's Imaging will match donated dollars with free mammograms for low-income women.

For more information on the Pink Ribbon Project, call (866) 557-7465.