By Jennie Camp Hudgins

Candace Carberry is an ovarian cancer survivor. She credits the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry and Dr. Steven Piver with saving her life. Known to friends as Candy, she will forever be remembered by us as Blue Hydrangea Tea Party’s first registered hostess. Candy put her whole heart into becoming an ovarian cancer “activist” after her experience with the disease and made a pledge to herself to raise $1000 each year for the Registry. Blue Hydrangea Tea Party provides a lovely way for her to accomplish her goal each year!

On May 13, 2006 at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Candy’s house was filled with blue hydrangeas as her friends joined her for this special tea party at her New York home. She enlisted the help of her mother, her sister, her cousin, and her daughter-in-law …generations of women coming together for the cause of other women! The party was especially meaningful to this family, because Candy’s cousin was fighting this same disease. The party was the perfect opportunity to honor her fight and provide literature about ovarian cancer and its signs and symptoms. Each guest received an ovarian cancer awareness pin, as well. Candy took the opportunity to honor those people she felt had so mightily impacted the fight against ovarian cancer – the late actress, Gilda Radner and Dr. Steven Piver, who founded the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry 25 years ago, with Gilda’s husband, actor, Gene Wilder. She placed photos of them at the donation table, along with one of her cousin, who provided door prizes for the tea party.

Her daughter-in-law’s handmade blue hydrangea invitations brought 28 guests to her beautiful table. There her guests found antique dishes and her mother’s tea cups in varying patterns. Candy served tea sandwiches, homemade cookies, fruit and chocolate, and tea, of course! Lucky guests where treated to door prizes of blue hydrangea candles, picture frames, and stationary. And, everyone received a unique understanding of ovarian cancer….a cautionary tale from the mouth of a survivor. Candy’s party was a success and she met her personal goal of $1000. The Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry received the donation in honor of Candy’s cousin, Nancy. Following the party, she wrote thank you notes to her guests on blue hydrangea stationary, giving her party a personal touch from beginning to end.

“This was a wonderful experience,” Candy wrote. So wonderful, in fact, that she’s doing it again this year! On May 12, 2007, she says that she plans to follow the same party plan with an even bigger crowd and a few additions to the theme. She made a photo album from last year’s party, so she will have that available for her guests to enjoy. A friend has an idea for pastry treats in the shape of awareness ribbons, with teal frosting. And, she is also looking into ordering teal colored M&Ms! “The door prizes were a huge hit,” Candy explained. So, she and her sister have been out and about scouting for “hydrangea gifts.” This sounds like an excellent way to add excitement to a tea party!

Candy is passionate about ovarian cancer awareness with good reason. Most of us get passionate about something when our experience with it has affected us personally. I hope that every woman who hears about Blue Hydrangea Tea Party will respond the same way Candy has…with passion. Don’t disregard this disease and the opportunity to become active in the fight against it, because you don’t really feel passionate about it. So, maybe you don’t know anyone who is fighting ovarian cancer…..or has died from it…..A mere 5 years ago, I didn’t either.

By Jennie Camp Hudgins

Do you remember that song that goes, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going…..And, soon all those around can warm up in its glowing…..” ? I learned it in my church’s youth program. Very 70’s…sort of our very own Woodstock song! These days we’d open our cell phones, hold them upward, and sway like reeds in the breeze! “Pass it on….pass it on….”

Last year, we launched this project with little more than a spark….an email and a flyer attachment announcing Blue Hydrangea Tea Party as a fundraising tool for ovarian cancer awareness. Elizabeth, with her marketing background, began to brainstorm ways to get the word out. She researched agencies that might be interested in our idea and began the tedious task of contacting each one. One of the first hints of recognition came from the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry in New York, and we communicated with them, answering their questions about this new and different way to raise money for the cause. As the website went online, our dream to make our tea party concept a reality took a baby step forward. We were literally learning as we went. Before too long, a party registration popped up in my inbox. In an instant, my emotions overwhelmed me. Candace Carberry, from New York, was registering a party through our website. She wrote, “I’m excited to host my first Blue Hydrangea Tea Party to continue the fight against ovarian cancer.” It was like something out of a Hallmark movie! She had no way of knowing that she was the very first official Blue Hydrangea Tea Party hostess, and her words resonated in my head, as if she had spoken them out loud. I don’t know how many of you believe in divine providence, but I fully believe that it was at work here. There could not have been a better story about the beginnings of Blue Hydrangea Tea Party than to have this ovarian cancer survivor as our first hostess. But, the best was yet to come!

The weeks passed quickly, and we were dizzy with anticipation and a little anxiety as May 13, 2006 was in our sights. We had known so little about timing our campaign blitz, and it seemed that everything was happening at once. Elizabeth and I wanted to have a special inaugural Blue Hydrangea Tea Party with family and friends, so preparations were underway for that. All the while, we were talking about Blue Hydrangea Tea Party to anyone who would listen, and inquiries were still coming in the week before the event itself. On the Saturday before Mothers’ Day, we gathered to celebrate the legacy of a great lady - Ann Camp McCune. My sister; Elizabeth’s mother. We enjoyed a lovely day in Columbia, SC with a clear blue sky - like blue hydrangeas. It was as if Ann was saying, “I’m right here with you, enjoying this wonderful moment.” Indeed, it was a very emotional day for all of us - the full spectrum kind! It was a day that I didn’t want to end. So, when it did, I took a deep breath and began to check daily for the reports that would tell the tale. Here was where the story would either soar to a great climax before the Cinderella ending or where it would falter, be ripped out of the proverbial typewriter and tossed in the trash like a crumpled piece of paper!

Day by day, I waited and watched as the reports came in slowly. I continued to hold my breath. The news was mostly good with a little bad - a party that didn’t happen because of unforseen circumstances and a few unreported totals. But, the majority of our hostesses were reporting in and the news was what we had expected. We had realistic goals and believed that anything was better than nothing! It was a week or so before I heard from Candy again. We had such an emotional attachment to her because of her “first hostess” status, so I was eager and anxious to hear from her. When I received her email report, it was deja vu all over again! I felt the chill bumps begin to form as I read the details. She had raised $1000, ironically, for the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, the first agency to show interest in our tea party concept! I had not known that Candy was an ovarian cancer survivor until I received the report on her party. Her email read, “I was diagnosed three years ago with ovarian cancer, had surgery and chemo, and now I am a success story. My cancer was caught at Stage 1. The tumor had never spread. I know I was granted a miracle. I have pledged to raise $1000 a year for the Registry.” Candy’s story was so encouraging. And, as I read her email, I could not believe how blessed we were to have her play such an important role in our story. She wrote, “When I heard about your Blue Hydrangea Tea Party, I knew this was something I had to be a part of…..I pledge myself to the battle against ovarian cancer…..Your fight is now my fight. God Bless you both for the work you do.”

I believe He has. Those who have heard about Blue Hydrangea Tea Party are sharing the concept with others. It does make me want to break out the cell phone! We feel that, with the success of this project, we have been given a mission. We took the spark and got the fire going! Just like Candy, our story didn’t end. We live to fight another day….lift a cup of tea….share laughter and tears….raise awareness for ovarian cancer…..for our sisters….for our mothers…..for our aunts, cousins, and friends….for all the other women we have yet to meet. “Pass it on….pass it on….”

NEXT: HEAR THE DETAILS OF CANDY’S PARTY!