SEQUIM — It was another buzzing benefit for the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, as about 195 women attended the sold-out event to raise awareness about breast cancer, support survivors and commemorate those lost to the disease.
Throngs of women arrived at Sunland Golf &Country Club, 109 Hilltop Drive, on Friday wearing hats from the chic to the comedic. As always, bras in pinks and purples featured prominently as hat decorations.
Mrs. Olympic Peninsula, Magan Waldron, who’s vying to become Mrs. Washington, sported a huge pink-net, early 19th-century-style hat decorated with a rose-colored bra. Waldron said she attended because she supports Operation Uplift as part of her platform.
Operation Uplift is a nonprofit cancer support group that was founded in Port Angeles in 1983 that provides support for survivors of all types of cancer, both men and women.
Operation Uplift and the Olympic Medical Cancer Center (OMCC) in Sequim received donations of $3,500 each from the Mad Hatters at the event.
Each annual event includes the survivor countdown — about half a dozen women stood up this year as survivors of 25 years or more.
“This is an impressive group of survivors that gives hope for all of us,” said Pam Grandstrom, mistress of ceremonies. “Girls, you’re doing great!”
Dr. Patrick Jewell, director of radiation oncology at OMCC, presented an overview of current radiation technologies and diagnosis and treatment protocols, concluding that for the most part, these technologies are available at the cancer center in Sequim.
Ranay Yarian, who spoke of her cancer journey last year at the tea party after being diagnosed in 2013, continued to delight the audience with her humorous twists on dealing with cancer.
“Make things fun — I ask, ‘What would Mickey [Mouse] do?’ ”
Yarian also advised, “You don’t have to take on ‘cancer patient’ as your identity. With other people, you become the disease. We have to decide what this journey means to us.”
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Patricia Morrison Coate 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 pcoate@sequim gazette.com.
Patricia Morrison Coate/Olympic Peninsula News Group A sea of wild and colorful hats filled the dining room at Sunland Golf & Country Club for the 19th annual Mad Hatters Tea Party.
