Little Pink Houses

Connection is the keyword for Little Pink Houses of Hope. Connection for breast cancer patients and their families. For the first time Little Pink families connected on Marco Island. And to a person, the outpouring of compassion from the Marco Island community blew them away.

 "I think the biggest thing this week has just been the welcoming by the community here in Marco Island,” said Yolanda Payne-Jameau. “Everyone from the volunteers that were with the organization to the businesses that donated their services and just welcomed us with open arms. Everyone that we've met, even people across the street from one of the houses that weren’t part of the event just welcomed us and gave us well wishes.”

Claudia de Pasquale felt the same way.

“What I really like the most about this week,” Claudia De Pasquale said, "was the warmth that we received from the community and from the organization, and that my family actually got to experience that too. That was really amazing.”

Organizer Brad Shaw, a Marco Island resident, couldn’t agree more.

"We knew it was going to be amazing,” Shaw said, "but this community stepped up in a way that I've never seen before. And I've run five retreats up in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and I can say that the first one is always the hardest. And this was the first one on Marco, and it will not be the last.”

Little Pink House of Hope retreats are open to breast cancer patients who are currently in treatment or have finished treatment within the past 12 months. Little Pink fosters family bonds through relaxed play and time away. Ten families enjoyed all Marco Island has to offer from June 3rd through the 10th. Ten Marco families happily gave up their homes for the week. Marco businesses lined up to provide entertainment and meals for the families.

“It's real, and it's authentic,” Shaw said, "and literally every door I knocked was open and we got an instant yes. I mean, it was across the board. The most giving, generous, engaged community. And it was all about not yes or no, but what do you need? How can I help you? People have seen Pink all over this town for the past week and have looked in the faces of these people who are battling breast cancer and who so deeply appreciate everything this community has done. We know next year's going to be even better. I mean, this is one of the best retreats we have ever been on, and we can make it even better next year. We've already got a million ideas on how we can do that. So it’ll be easy with this community. It really will.”

The Little Pink retreats offer a much-needed respite from schedules dictated by medical appointments and the heavy burden of healthcare bills. But organizers say the real value of retreats is in the supportive environment that helps families rediscover hope and joy. Patients and families reconnect and cultivate relationships with each other and with volunteers and other families. 

Payne-Jameau is thankful that she discovered the program.

"I actually heard about the program from one of my oncologists a few years ago,” Payne-Jameau said, “and she kept telling me that I should check out Little Pink. So I read a little bit about what they did and who they were and submitted the application, had no idea that we would be chosen for the retreat and really didn't know what to expect. But we were pleasantly surprised. You could tell the amount of thought and planning love that went into them, planning the week and all the activities for us. The kids had a great time. It was just nice to be able to get away from the day-to-day stress and appointments and regular mom stuff that you have to do and just come and have a week to just be together.”

"It was a great week,” De Pasquale said. “We didn't have to worry about the activities. Everything was nicely planned for our family. My children, who are eight, six, and four, had a great time as well."

Little Pink Houses of Hope was started by breast cancer survivor Jeanine Patten-Coble in 2009, just after receiving her diagnosis. Patten-Coble was a high school history teacher and professional educational trainer for 15 years before being diagnosed. Her own battle with breast cancer inspired the creation of Little Pink Houses of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides breast cancer survivors and their families a free week-long, fun-filled vacation with other families on the breast cancer journey. 

“We were living with these people for a week, literally,” Shaw said of the Little Pink experience. "You cry together, you laugh together. You see things that blow your mind. My wife, Mary, and I picked Little Pink to be our sort of primary mode of philanthropy because of that desire to be ground-engaged intentionally. And Jeanine said, 'Well if you start helping Little Pink, you're going to have a front-row seat to miracles.' And I said, 'Well, sign me up because that's exactly what we're looking for.' And look, there's some heartbreak and some sadness involved with it. You know, we have some women this week that are Stage Four and are having some setbacks. We have some that are having new procedures, new treatments that are making them suffer a bit. And you see it in their faces and in their bodies and how they kind of move about the week. And that part of it is as moving as the happy part. But, you know, life comes with both. And this is a great way to see that and be part of it and make it better if we can.”

Little Pink volunteers are called volun-stars for all they do to selflessly help the families on the retreat.

“There's a ton of logistics,” Shaw said, "a million moving parts in a week where you've got ten families, 47 people, all living in different properties and doing different activities and meals every day. It's a complex operation for the week. We get to know on a personal level the people that are in greatest need and we can love on them and help them and support them and get to know them as friends. And we made 47 new friends this week. These are people that we're going to stay in touch with and that's how we want to give our time. It’s people who need help. And to that point, one of the women today basically said this was their first family vacation ever. And wow, that's a pretty powerful thing. And it's equally powerful that sadly, sometimes it's the last family vacation. Today was portrait day, and we had professional photographers taking family portraits of them. So they'll always have the memory of Marco Island no matter what the future unfolds for them and their cancer journey.”

The families enjoyed a myriad of Marco Island-themed activities, including charter fishing trips, dolphin tours, family fun night, and a beach day at Residents’ Beach.

Shaw was moved by his experience with the caregivers - the husbands - on a fishing charter.

“You could see that as fun as it was catching fish,” Shaw said, "when we were just zipping along in that beautiful blue water and they were looking at the mangroves and dolphins, you could tell that they had a lot on their minds, and you get it. And you really see the power of the release and the escape that something like this can bring. They knew that they're going back to something that isn't as, you know, fun and beautiful as this and, in fact, probably has a lot of pain and anguish with it. But for a moment at least, they can take a breath and just relax and enjoy it. And it's really cool to see. It's palpable, really.”

Payne-Jameau, a native of Houston, said the families bonded immediately.

"We had never seen dolphins before,” Payne-Jameau said. "We had never really been out in a boat before. So it was really nice. The kids made friends almost immediately. Then the second day we had a time that was just for the survivors. So we all kind of got to share our stories with each other. It was very inspiring. Because a lot of us, I think we were all at different points in our journey. Some of us are coming up on our first year out of treatment, one lady just finished her treatment the week before we got here. And then some of us are living with long-term treatment. So I think that we were each able to give each other something to remember each other by and really give each other hope.”

De Pasquale, who hails from the San Francisco Bay area, agrees.

“We had the chance to share experiences,” De Pasquale said, "what we went through and the way we feel about things. There’s just another level of connection that you share with a survivor that sometimes I feel it's hard to explain for someone who hasn't gone through it. It's very empowering and it kind of helps you pull through and go ahead. It was an emotional time for sure because every story that you hear there's a lot of common things, even though our diagnoses are a little bit different. There's a lot of common things. Like one thing that we all share is that we’re all women. And the first thing, when you get diagnosed, you worry about your family and your children. We all share that. And that's very emotional to hear the story from someone else. It kind of makes you feel like you're not alone going through that either."

While everyone had their favorite moments from the week, Payne-Jameau's son Alan had a unique favorite moment from Residents’ Beach. He got to experience something many Marco Island residents fear…getting locked in the Residents’ Beach parking lot after sunset.

 "It wasn't an emergency,” Shaw said with a laugh. “And it wasn't a big thing, but after family fun night, Yolanda decided to go see the sunset at Residents’ Beach. Oh, and it's coming. Oh, you do know it's coming. I got the call at 9:00 PM saying we got locked in. Can you help? And thankfully, the police department sprang right into action and got him out. And it was awesome. Yeah, it was great."