Shop 'Treasures For Teal' On Saturday In Mendham For A Good Cause

MENDHAM, NJ — Art, jewelry, collectibles, home items, gadgets and more are among the many items for purchase on Saturday during the cash-only “Treasures For Teal” fundraising event at the Brookside Community Club on 1 East Main Street in Brookside.

Attendees who come may park in the Community Club’s lot or at the municipal parking lot on Cherry Lane for the event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Proceeds from the shopping benefit are planned to help the “Turn The Towns Teal,” awareness-raising campaign and that sends teal ribbons, posters, brochures and other information to 465 people currently registered within all 50 states across the United States, who are helping with the campaign. These individuals turn neighborhoods “teal” in September - the month when ovarian cancer awareness is raised - with the goal of alerting women about the quiet symptoms that typically creep up with this type of cancer.

The mission of Turn The Towns Teal is to inform communities that in its early phases, ovarian cancer is easily treatable, but may turn fatal for those who miss those small and initial warning signs.

“The dedication of our volunteers has saved lives,” said Jane MacNeil, the president of the campaign, who lost her sister-in-law Gail MacNeil - Turn The Towns Teal’s founder - to ovarian cancer in 2008.

It was Gail MacNeil who came up with the color of the ribbons and alliterative name associated with the campaign, now trademarked by her husband, who also turned it into a 501c3 non-profit organization.

According to the campaign’s website, MacNeil fought ovarian cancer for a decade, having brought her symptoms to her doctor, which were dismissed “as merely the onset of middle age.”

“You have to know the symptoms and there’s no conclusive test,” Jane MacNeil said of the diagnostics to make an ovarian cancer diagnosis. “She [Gail MacNeil] knew all too well that there was not enough known about the symptoms and risk factors; and she wanted to spare others what she and her family endured.”

Statistically, Jane MacNeil said, if detected early enough, the success rate to treat ovarian cancer ranges between 90 and 95 percent.

Unfortunately, Gail MacNeil, who lived in Chatham, received the news in December 1997, that she had Stage IIIC ovarian cancer.

Information on Turn The Towns Teal’s website presents the possible symptoms of what could be ovarian cancer, which the organization advocates women should follow up on, stating the traditional Pap test will not detect it. Among them, a woman should speak to her doctor if she's experiencing one or a combination of the following symptoms for up to two weeks: urinary urgency or frequency, bloating, abdominal or pelvic pain, feeling full quickly after eating, difficulty eating, unexplained weight gain or loss, back pain, pain during intimacy, changes in her menstrual cycle and persistent exhaustion.

Risks factors for ovarian cancer, the site also indicates, may be due to a woman aging, if she was on hormone replacement therapy, if she has the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes and if she had a history of infertility or family history of ovarian, colon or breast cancers.

For more information about Turn The Towns Teal, visit www.turnthetownsteal.org.

Questions or comments about this story? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.