THERE is strength in support. If all the pink ribbons, the universal symbol for breast health first created by Estée Lauder in 1992, were stretched from end to end, they would create a pink bridge from New York to China.

?It isn?t about having more friends, but about having more meaningful friendships. It isn?t about saving another co-patient, as that is God?s call and not mine, but about making [his/her] journey even just a little bit easier to bear [than] my own,? said breast-cancer survivor Maritoni Fernandez.

The tearful Fernandez, who was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago at 31 years old, spoke candidly about the disease in the fundraising event by Estée Lauder at Rustan?s Makati.

The exhibit, ongoing until Oct. 24, is by Estée Lauder Co. Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign (BCA) with Rustan?s Corp., 318 Interiors Gallery, Bosom Buddies, Marie-Claire and Manila Peninsula. It displays 35 artworks by Filipino artists such as Jun Alfon, Hermes Allegre, Loreto Racuya, Celso Pepito.

Each sold artwork comes with a gift set from either Estée Lauder, Clinique, Origins, Bobbi Brown and La Mer. Fifty percent of the proceeds will go to the fund breast cancer program of Bosom Buddies foundation.

?World Pink. World Without Breast Cancer. Wear a Pink Ribbon. Make a Difference,? Estée Lauder Co.?s October 2008 campaign, brings people from all walks of life in 60 different countries to unite for a common goal: In 98 percent of the cases, early detection of breast cancer leads to successful treatment.

Cruel hand

Fernandez, who was diagnosed with Stage 1 carcinoma of the right breast a few days after her 31st birthday in 2001, felt she had been ?dealt a cruel hand.? She fell into a rut, and just like most diagnosed patients she developed a ?nasty way of digging [herself] into a hole of self-pity and depression.?

She said she never would have found the courage to move on, had it not been for the solid support of family and friends, some of whom have since passed on such as Rio Diaz and Marisette Galang. And her mother, she said, never treated her like a sick patient.

?One has to decide for oneself?alone, with no one else but God?whether [to] wallow in that dark place until [one] dies, or become dead-set on living,? said this mother of two.

Dogged determination to live, however, doesn?t always translate into winning the battle. Fernandez talks about cancer at every opportunity, believing it is God?s mission for her.

It is important to know that one is going through the same thing with another person, she said, so one would never lose sight of the ?bigger picture??that there is nothing to be absolutely afraid of, not even death.

Cancer survivors are haunted by the fear of recurrence. Her friends? deaths taught her to accept death, to trust God and to let the fear go.

?I?m really ready to go any time... I will live today as happily as I can. I don?t want to worry about dying, or being sick ever again. I only want to show the world I want to live my life to the full,? she said.