Last Year, This Year

Many years ago--six, I think--I photographed the amazing wedding of Kelly Corrigan and Edward Lichty at the Villanova Chapel in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I use the word amazing for several reasons: the Villanova Chapel (chapel, my foot) is a staggeringly beautiful cathedral on the grounds of the university; the Corrigan family, with its ever-present Irish laughter and constant discussions of lacrosse and other sports, left such an indelible impression on me (discussions in the Mendelsohn household, on the other hand, usually revolved around "racing car" math problems--if a racing car left Detroit going 236 mph...); and because a year after their wedding--and completely out of the blue-- Kelly wrote me what is still the nicest thank-you note I've ever received.

You don't forget a person like Kelly. Her go-getter personality is infectious. We touched base a couple of years after her wedding when I photographed her first daughter. After that meeting we fell out of touch for a while. Until, that is, a year ago this week, while watching the Today Show, with one eye shut--I think I lost a contact lens, I heard Katie Couric say that after the commercial break she would be speaking to an amazing woman with an amazing story of survival from breast cancer. And there was Kelly Corrigan, smiling into my television set in Arlington, Virginia.

You can watch Kelly's chat with Katie here. I watched it again this morning and was in tears. Suffice to say that it went on longer than any Today show segment I can remember. You guys judge for yourselves. Katie, whose husband, Jay, died of colon cancer, clearly bonded with Kelly. Kelly talked about her courageous bout with Stage 3 breast cancer--and the chemo treatments she shared with her dad, Big George, who was also fighting his own bout with bladder cancer--with the same laughter that I heard those many years ago in her family home when she was dressing for her wedding.

Well, amazing people do amazing things. That Kelly has beaten her cancer is not surprising to me at all. It's what she's done after that which continues to impress: she has created a cool web site called Circus of Cancer, with lots of great information and lots of great photographs. (Oh, forgot to mention: Kelly became a photographer!!) The neat part about Circus of Cancer is that it's written primarily for those of us who are cancer free. It's goal is to educate friends and loved ones of people with cancer on the things they can do, things they should say (lesson one: don't say "you never responded to my get-well e-mail!"), and how they can help. Please take a look, especially the column she writes for a local newspaper.

And now the reason for this post. Kelly continues to amaze. She has written a beautiful book for children, titled "Last Year, This Year," with illustrations by her friend and collaborator Nan Davenport. The book is a wonderful way for parents and children to discuss their cancer treatments. The images in the book are even drawn by Kelly's daughters and 100% of the profits go breastcancer.org.

We've always prided ourselves at Matt Mendelsohn World Headquarters (okay, Matt's basement) on how great our clients are in times of need. Whether for tsunami victims or the children of a journalist killed in Iraq, we've all rallied for great causes. So go buy Kelly's book!

Matt