Bake Saling!!

This past week was one of my absolute favorite days at work. Bake Sale Day. As dietitians my lovely colleagues and I love to bake. A lot. And then when you add in for a cause, we get a little nuts. Above is a photo of me hamming it up at 6:45 am as we were setting our table up. 

Here is a wide shot of our table and all it's glory: 

That is a lot of great stuff. We were again raising money for the Lahey Health Cancer Centers. Our online email weekly newsletter ran a little story on me and my breast cancer journey through Lahey and helped promote our bake sale to the hospital. It was really great of them and many people through out the day stopped by to congratulate me on continuing to be a survivor and a couple even asked me if I was Sara. It was great. 

However, two visitors to the table really touched my heart. 

The first told me she was a survivor out of the Lahey cancer center and how proud she was to see us out there. I told her I was a survivor too and we exchanged congratulations. She bought her baked goods and left with a giant smile on her face. We each had a reminder of the gratitude that comes with being a survivor. That, and she had also bought one of the giant chocolate chip cookies I had made. 

The second visitor was my absolute favorite. She was decked out in pink and black with a baseball cap. She had just the slightest hint of peach fuzz underneath. She came to the table and asked what time we were there until. I told her 3. She said "Great, I'll be back after my treatment". I waited patiently for her to return. When she did, I asked her how her infusion went. She told me "I"m used to it by now. This is my 3rd cancer, and unfortunately this time it's not curable". She then went on to tell me how she used to do bake sales to raise money for the cancer center herself and how much she missed doing them. She was grateful that we were out there and was hopeful to see us again. 

She is the reason we were out there. She was the reason that I decided at 5 am to throw an additional batch of cookies in the oven because I felt we needed just a little bit more. Even though I had already made 3 dozen donuts, 2.5 dozen peanut butter cups, and a couple dozen each of blueberry muffins, oatmeal raisin cookies, giant chocolate chip cookies and very carrotty carrot cake cupcakes I knew I could squeeze in a couple dozen more. 

My colleagues fully understand how important this fundraiser is. You can see the amount of work and effort put in. And we raised $1,084. With baked goods. I'm still floored. 

Go Team NED (No Evidence of Disease)!