If you can’t run with the “big” dogs… Stay on the porch!

I had so much fun training my dogs for the Humane Society's Run with the Dogs benefit.
All the furry friend's brought out their owners to do something good for their friends in need. Everyone donated an entry fee to the Humane Society of Saline County. The racers got fun prizes and the Humane Society raised some much needed money.

I know my dogs were proud of me for coming out to help their friends. We all had a lot of fun making new friends and also helping out our community.

I am so proud to report my little ChiChi, hip replacement and all, came in FIRST PLACE for the small breed category! She is a wonderful example of how hard work and determination will get us all to the finish line.

American Heart Association Women’s Show 2010

I was so happy to attend the Arkansas Women’s Show. So many women came out to learn about heart health specifically for women and how important it is to learn your numbers. With the power of education and early detection we can prevent one more woman from falling victim to the number one killer of American women.

There were also a lot of companies that brought products specifically geared for women and
making our lives easier!  The American Heart Association also provided free screenings, so any woman could leave knowing their numbers and take the steps to being as heart healthy as possible.

There were also a few celebrities, Miss. International and somebody else y'all might recognize. Paula Dean!  How cool is that! I wish I could have stayed long enough to meet her. Wonder if she was going to cook a heart healthy meal...HA!

My Baby is a Centerfold

I was just recently awarded the centerfold in SEEK magazine!!! Get your minds out of the gutter. This magazine is Looking Beyond Cancer's Limits and they look deeper into new treatments and possible cures. The latest issue is featuring the Look Good... Feel Better Program that I was able to implement at UAMS this past year. The more locations Look Good...Feel Better is available, more women can be helped.

The article is called More Than Just A Pretty Face and you can click HERE to read the article.

Women are so much more than just a pretty face, especially women with cancer. The women that I have meet through the Look Good...Feel Better Program have been incrediablly inspiring and are unbelievably BEAUTIFUL!

NO women should have to go through cancer treatment, but if you do always remember you are more than Just a Pretty Face and you are always welcome at The Look Good...Feel Better Program.

Relay for Life 2010

These events are so important! Not only because they recognize over 11 million cancer survivors, but they also educate the public about advances being made in cancer research and raise a lot of cash to furthur research and other programs.  Most people think these events are serious and stuffy, but we have a lot of fun!

I haven't got the totals for the entire event, but we had a great time!!! I was even able to raise $15.00 for my Jail Bail! LOL!

During all this fun we had a survivor banquette, which was a amazing and the food was delish! 

I was very honored to be the guest speaker, but I suprised myself.  I was up at the microphone spouting out facts and reasons why we should all volunteer at the American Cancer Society and I said something that has changed the way I look at my volunteering.

The American Cancer Society has been around for 97 years! NINETY-SEVEN years! Then I thought about what has changed in 97 years. We have made so many advances in technology that have changed all of our lives, but we have still not found a cure for cancer.  That is so sad, but it makes me want to do more to help!  I am not a doctor or a research scientist, but I can take one woman at a time and make them look like a million bucks! The Look Good... Feel Better Program is so much more than make up and hair, it truely gives women who are fighting for their lives a much needed confidence boost.

See, you don't have to dontate thousands of dollars or have a PhD to make a difference.  I bring my make up brushes and curling irons to the table, what are you going to bring?  Make a difference now, let's not wait another 97 years.

Everyone has a talent that could help get us closer to the cure.

Lesson In Love

Lots of people can tell you life lessons but until you experience them for your self. It can not be put in perspective like you think it will be until it happens. I just had a very big life lesson taught to me this weekend. You dream about and talk about the biggest engagement ring, the fanciest wedding, and all of the stuff that goes along with getting married. Then you get married and wonder what you did all that for. It's funny how you think back about the whole thing.

My husband and I did not do the whole big wedding thing. We went away to a quiet beach in the rain forest. Just him and I. We wanted the day to be just about us. The day. What we were vowing to one another. Changing are lives. Beginning our life as husband and wife. It is a day that we still talk about. A day that after we go to someones wedding we giggle in each others ear that ours was better and that it was just about us. Then on the way home we relive the that day again.

I do not have the biggest engagement ring but it is the biggest best one in the whole world to me. The best fanciest ring but most importantly it is the ring that my husband wanted me to have. The one he worked hard to save for. The one he designed for me. One like no one else's because of the day he placed it on my finger. The amazing moment in time that we said our vows and once again that ring was slipped on my finger.

This weekend my ring was taken from my home. I thought I miss placed it. I looked. I searched. I turned my home upside down. Finally the moment came when I had to tell my husband that my ring was not where it should be. It was hard to face my husband who put so much love in the idea of this ring not to mention the hard work that he had done to get this ring that its now gone. Do you know what he said? Its just a ring. We are still married. I still love you. Of course he immediately began helping me to look for it in case I had miss placed it but I didn't miss place it. It was taken but now with prayer and hard detective work it is back in it's rightful I mean leftful place. You know what I'm still married and I think we are better for it too. Love is not a ring or a thing it is a commitment to one another. My husband has been wonderful through this whole ordeal and we are closer now because of it.

Award!

I was just awarded a pretty big award from the American Cancer Society. They just recognized me for my outstanding contributions to the Look Good... Feel Better Program. So I got dressed up put on my crown and went to the Relay for Life to receive my award. I was so excited! This is what I am thinking finally all my hard work is paying off. They say a long speech about all that I have done and what I will be doing. So I feeling pretty good. Look at me. Look what I have done. I have helped all of these cancer patients. They call out Amberlee Hayman, Mrs. Mississippi will you please come receive your award. I stand up walk to the stage receive my award and take lots of pictures will all the right people with the biggest smile on my face.

I go to my seat and watch for the relay to begin. Then they start calling out special survivors and the team leaders. This is when I realize these people are the ones that should be getting the awards and then a very small very young little girl comes up to me and she had heard what the Look Good... Feel Better Program dose for women with cancer and she wanted to know if I could make her pretty like I was. It was very hard to hold back the tears because in front of me was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. At eight years old she had been battling cancer for most of her life and had more courage than three grown men and more grace and beauty than any beauty queen I had ever meet.

Just as matter of factually as she had asked me I told her we could get her fixed up. All that being said I have a new out look on life and an even bigger mission than when I started with the American Cancer Society.

The more I work with cancer patients the younger they seam to get. And there is such a thing as a Teen Look Good... Feel Better Program, but there are only seven in the whole United States. Only seven! There are not enough regular Look Good... Feel Better Programs to take care of the women much less seven for all of the young people. Lets make this a time to take care of the next generation until we find a cure for cancer. Making the Look Good... Feel Better program a thing of the past is my goal.

Peace Love and Cancer

I don't really know how to talk about this subject but it has come up in the Look Good... Feel Better Programs I have facilitated and I read a magazine article the other day that had been weighing heavy on my mind.

The women want to know how to get and feel sexy again. The lady in the article wants to know how to be with her husband after her treatment for Brest cancer or if her husband even sees her as a sexual person anymore. The article says for her to try a new hair cut, make up, clothing. All of theses things the Look Good... Feel Better Program helps women with well except the clothing. All of thees things are offered for free because of the Personal Care Products Council Foundation, American Cancer Society, and The Nation Cosmetology Association.

This is why it is so important to camouflage the side effects of cancer. Women still want to be women even through cancer treatment. They need to be women during this time. They need our support, your support, and the love of there husbands and family's during this time.