St. Rose native Mary Rosalie Palmisano-Lovetro has won her recent battle with breast cancer, but she has not forgotten other women who may be going through the same thing.
Despite having rheumatoid arthritis, Lovetro, 66, has spent weeks making two rag dolls by hand that will be auctioned off to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation.
“It used to take me about a day and a half to make a doll and it took me a week or so to make the first one of these because my hands kept getting in the way because of the arthritis,” Lovetro said. “It hurt really bad, but I got through it and they came out gorgeous – they’re some of my better ones.
“If the money from this auction can help women and girls get mammograms and teach them how to do self exams, then it’s all worth it.”
Lovetro was diagnosed with breast cancer after doing a self examination in November 2009. She had surgery to remove the cancer and has been clear of it for a year.
But her daughter, Trisha Lovetro-Koch, said that while the cancer is gone, her mother’s pain is worse every day.
“She has been having some issues with her medicine,” Koch said. Doctors prescribed Arimidex to Lovetro for five years as a part of her cancer treatment. “Medicare wouldn’t pay for the brand-name medication that her doctor prescribed and unfortunately the generic has side effects, such as bone pain, that really aggravate her arthritis.”
Lovetro has been making dolls for decades, but she has never sold them for profit – she has only given them as gifts or donated them to charities.
“I just love doing them and the kids really like them,” Lovetro said.
Lovetro said that she hopes the auction will help to spread the word about getting checked early and often for breast cancer.
“Even if you think it’s not anything much, go to your doctor and get them to check it out,” she advised other women. “If I hadn’t gone to the doctor, God only knows where I would be right now because the cancer was really moving fast.”
Luckily for Lovetro, she said that she put herself in God’s hands and it all worked out. She hopes all other women will be as lucky with proper education and testing.
Tickets for the doll auction are $2.50 each and can be purchased at the parish president’s office in the Hahnville courthouse. The drawing will be held on Jan. 15, 2011. E-mail Koch at tlovetro@cox.net for more information.
Be the first to comment