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Linda Chriscoe, 60, isn't a model or an agent. Nor are the 22 people she persuaded to walk the runway at a fashion show at the Saks Fifth Avenue in Stamford. They are doctors, mothers, sisters, daughters and, perhaps most importantly, survivors.
Thirteen of the evening's volunteer models were breast cancer survivors. The other nine were the Stamford Hospital physicians who helped save their lives. Chriscoe, as chairwoman for the Paint the Town Pink Committee, arranged for them to walk the runway. "The one I was hugging the most, that I walked with, he was my doctor," said Chriscoe, who then paused and reconsidered her comment. "No, he still is my doctor. You never fully stop being a patient."
Chriscoe said she wants women to understand the importance of breast self-examinations. Twice in her life she found a lump. The first was discovered in her mid-20s and turned out to be benign, though the experience terrified her. Decades later, a second lump appeared; this time it was malignant.
"I had so much faith in everyone and that treatment was going to work," said Chriscoe, admitting that advances in technology since her first experience eased a lot of her fears.
She is now a five-year survivor. Chriscoe thanks the Carl & Dorothy Bennett Cancer Center and her treatment for allowing her to reach a number of family milestones. "Thanks to the Bennett Cancer Center I got to see my daughter's graduation," she said.
The Paint the Town Pink fashion event launches the Stamford Saks Fifth Avenue's annual Key to the Cure event. Saks Fifth Avenue executive assistant Paulette Pitt said the store would donate 2 percent of sales to the Stamford Hospital mobile mammography unit through Sunday. That will include items sold at the Paint the Town Pink event.
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