Breast cancer survivor shares story

SEQUIM — Nancy Hofmann already has planned her hat for the 21st Mad Hatter’s luncheon and tea party Oct. 5.

To celebrate her 20th year in attendance, Hofmann and her friends are sporting an “Alice in Wonderland” theme with top hats, white gloves and adding a white rabbit and the color pink somewhere into the mix to go with the theme, “pretty in pink.”

This year’s luncheon will be from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave., with proceeds to benefit OMC’s Cancer Center in Sequim and Operation Uplift, a Port Angeles nonprofit devoted to supporting North Olympic Peninsula cancer patients and survivors.

Tickets are $35 per person. The deadline for reservations is Monday.

Hofmann, 73, is a Mad Hatter’s committee member who, along with many other breast cancer survivors and advocates prepares a hat each year for the annual tea party and luncheon.

Throughout the two decades she’s attended the event, Hofmann has worn a variety of hats inspired by different women and themes; one year she and friends had a Jackie Kennedy-theme, while other years she’s worn wigs or tiaras.

A two-time breast cancer survivor who’s seen treatment and detection methods evolve throughout 20 years, Hofmann’s first diagnosis of stage II breast cancer was in 1990.

“You expected you were going to die [at that time],” Hofmann said.

“With breast cancer, it can always come back,” she added.

“It was amazing I made it to five years [in remission].”

She also lives with lymphedema, an effect of cancer treatment that causes fluid retention due to damaged or blocked lymphatic vessels. Some of Hofmann’s lymph nodes were cut during cancer treatment, which resulted in lymphedema (blockages in the lymphatic system).

When Hofmann asked medical professionals about the condition in the 1990s, she said not many could give her much information about it nor could she find treatment options.

“My arm blew up like a balloon,” Hofmann said. “Lots of [breast cancer] survivors had lymphedema but [at the time] many doctors didn’t know about it.”

She tried to return to her teaching job in Alaska until the day she discovered she had lymphedema in her right arm.

While Hofmann continued to look for a way to improve lymphedema, she heard a mindful saying along the lines of “turn your tears into action,” and started a support group in Anchorage for breast cancer survivors.

Sequim beginnings

Hofmann moved to Sequim with her husband in 1998. She said one of the reasons she chose the location was to be close to good medical care, referring to Olympic Medical Center’s cancer center on North Fifth Avenue.

While Hofmann thought her battle with breast cancer was over after 17 years in remission, in 2007 she discovered tiny new tumors growing in her other breast following a mammogram. She again faced stage II breast cancer, and again she needed chemotherapy treatment.

Hofmann was hesitant to undergo chemo again, remembering how harsh it was on her the first time around.

“I never was not sick,” Hofmann said. “I decided to go through it [chemo] again because the treatments were more frequent but weaker.”

She underwent chemo for about six months in Seattle and now has been in remission — a second time — for about 10 years.

Hofmann reconnected with one of the women she met in the Anchorage support group at the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center (now YMCA of Sequim) in 1998, who told her about the Mad Hatter’s tea party and luncheon.

Local women were gathering to support resident Jan Chatfield, who wore hats to mask her hair loss while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Chatfield died shortly after the event started in 1997, but the Mad Hatter’s luncheon has continued in her honor, to celebrate other women who are breast cancer survivors, and to raise funds. The group later became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Attendance has grown since its inception.

This year’s speakers include Dr. Loraine Lovejoy-Evans, a lymphedema expert, and physical therapist Juliet Pierce, a radiation therapist at OMC and breast cancer survivor. Linda Klinefelter serves as the Mistress of Ceremonies.

Hofmann continues to return to the event each year because she believes these funds truly help with breast cancer research and aiding organizations that support survivors.

She said she also finds enjoyment in painting her favorite hats she’s seen at the tea party throughout the years. Her favorite hat was worn by a woman who decorated it with pink butterflies one year. She took a photo of the woman wearing the hat, painted it and it sits in her Sequim home.

Hofmann also has other similar paintings that adorn the walls of her home, including a photo of her and her sister wearing hats at one of the tea parties.

For more information about the Mad Hatter’s luncheon or for ticket information, contact Linda Turner at 360-681-5395 or email her at turner3192@gmail.com.

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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.