Ornament Sales Support The Fight Against Cancer

By Kaaren Valenta

A very special ornament hangs on the Christmas tree at the Sandy Hook home of Chris and George Dzjuna.  

The gold metal Christmas tree-shaped ornament, topped with a “circle of hope,” was designed by their niece to benefit Swim Across the Sound, a nonprofit organization that underwrites more than 34 programs and services to help prevent cancer through education and early detection, and to provide support to cancer patients and their families.

It was three years ago this month that Chris Dzjuna, 56, had surgery for breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy, then a mastectomy, followed by the most aggressive regime of chemotherapy, radiation, and cancer drugs taxol and then tamoxifin, which she will be on for a total of five years. The treatment caused her naturally red hair to fall out, but she got a wig, and quickly got on with her life.

“We were on vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and bought a Christmas ornament as a souvenir,” she said. “Later, when we were hanging it on the tree, George said there should be an ornament for cancer survivors.”

Mr Dzjuna’s idea quickly became a reality. His niece, artist Andrea Lynn McKeen, a native of Stratford who now lives in Massachusetts, designed the first ornament last year, an interlocking breast cancer awareness ribbon called the circle of hope, and also designed the 2003 holiday ornament.

The ornament is available locally at Elizabeth Ricci Fine Gifts, at 99 South Main Marketplace next to Ricci’s Salon & Spa. Proceeds from the sale of the $15 ornament are donated to Swim Across the Sound, which served 18,000 cancer patients and their families this year.

“I can’t say enough about this organization,” Chris Dzjuna said. “They provide screening, prevention, and support programs. They also help on a case-by-case basis, even providing the money to pay a mortgage payment or for a funeral if the family can’t do it. And if you can’t get to your [cancer] treatment, they will get you there.”

As a breast cancer survivor, Chris Dzjuna believes she has an obligation to reach out to other women.

“I want to stand up on a soap box and help educate women about breast cancer so more will survive,” she has said. “The healthier I get, the louder I get. Breast cancer is serious, scary, and we want to get on top of it.”

Residents of Newtown since 1991, the Dzjunas are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary this year.

“From the time that she was diagnosed with cancer, Chris has been so strong, so positive,” George Dzjuna said. “She is a survivor.”

“My physician told me that if I could get to the three-year mark without a recurrence, my prognosis would improve significantly,” she said. “I’m there now.”

Now that her hair has grown back almost completely, Chris Dzjuna no longer wears a wig.

“That’s another thing,” she said. “If a cancer patient can’t afford a wig, Swim Across the Sound will provide one. That’s what is so unique about this organization. All the money collected goes back to help cancer patients and their families.”

Recently Chris Dzjuna’s 53-year-old sister, who lives in Milford, also was diagnosed with breast cancer. “She had a mastectomy followed by breast reconstruction,” Ms Dzjuna said. “We had different types of breast cancer –– mine was estrogen positive, hers was estrogen negative.”

The importance of early detection cannot be understated, Ms Dzjuna said.

“I hope people look at this ornament and remember to keep on top of things,” she said. “Early detection makes survivors of us.”

For more information about Swim Across the Sound, call St Vincent’s Foundation at 203-576-5451.