Top, Left-right: Carola Gaines (l-r) and Michelle McQuirter, The Witness Project staff; Lucretia Sullivan Wade is very suave in this elegant entry;  Rosalind Bryant (r) models a hat while Alda Preston describes it; Mother Jacqueline Wright shows off her beautiful church hat.

      Zora Kramer Brown is one of those kinds of people whose presence in the room can be readily felt. She has an ebullience and      love of life that seems to saturate the environment around her. Over 100 women -- and some men -- basked in her rays October 7 at The Witness Project's A Hatter's Tea Affair, held at the Sheraton Hotel. After a wonderful fashion show of elegant hats supplied by Connie Walton and a Tea Time to network together and share stories, Brown came up to give the keynote speech. One would never know by her genuine positive attitude that Brown is a breast cancer survivor or that breast cancer and other forms of cancer have plagued her family for several generations.  "My mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother, my three sisters,  and I were all diagnosed with breast cancer," Brown confided to the audience.  "We had a lot of information available to us. My mother did not sweep it under the rug. She did not close the private door on information. She was a woman truly ahead of her time because she talked about breast cancer with us. She told us that at the time she did not really know, but she thought it was hereditary. She said in some ways she thought all of us would be diagnosed with the disease because it may be hereditary. Years later, we now know there are women who have predispositions for breast cancer. There is a gene that some women have that causes them to have breast cancer. Brown's sister Velma, eight years Zora's senior, was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was in her 30s. The Browns set out to do something about it and set up a support group at a local church.  "And at that time, everybody who came could sit at one table," Brown recalled.  "We couldn't get very many people to come." 
      While Velma remained  active in the fight against breast cancer, Zoe's interest turned to other matters. That all changed when Velma was diagnosed for a third time  and her prognosis was dire. Velma told Zora that they needed to do more. I asked her how we would do this and she told me I would think of a way," Brown related.  "She told me to do what I had been taught to do. And one of the things that my mother always told me to do before I started any project was to go to the Bible for guidance. She said it might  not be evident right then, but I should just go to my Bible. And then I was sitting there thinking about how we were going to do this and opened up my Bible. It opened to the Book of Isaiah, chapter four, verse six where it said  "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Lack of  knowledge based on truth is accountable for much of the suffering and misery of mankind." So I do know that we lacked knowledge at that  time."
      What the Browns established was the Breast Cancer Resource Committee whose mission is to educate African American women about breast cancer. Brown told the audience what her sister Velma's vision was for the center.  "She said 'We can be a conduit between those  with information to provide and those who are in need of information,'" Brown said.  "The committee still thrives today. She said that we could do more by just planning a program where we brought women together; bringing them together in a room so they could talk to each other and really be able to share their information and understand that there are other breast cancer survivors."
      A Hatter's Tea Affair mirrored the prevention and intervention strategies the Browns had developed 17 years ago. Cancer continued to exact      its toll on Brown's life. Her sister Velma died. Her sister Margaret developed breast cancer in both breasts simultaneously and eventually died.      And yet, there was also hope in Brown's family as well.  "My grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer when they had very little      knowledge of the disease," Brown emphasized.  "She was diagnosed in her sixties. She was 94 years old when she transitioned. My great      grandmother whom I never met was diagnosed when mammograms were not even available to her. But she lived a good long time. I lost my mother a month ago at the age of 91. She was almost a 50-year survivor of breast cancer.  So I tell you that we can survive this disease." Brown's brother was not spared the disease. He developed head and neck cancer and eventually died. Brown went back home for his funeral and to be with her  mother. And out of negative sometimes comes positive, the process of life.  At the funeral, a man got up to give some remarks. Afterwards, the man came up and grabbed Brown's arm. She didn't recognize him at first.  "My mother said  'You haven't figured out how to get this boy to marry you yet,'" Brown said with a big smile.  "It  happened to be my seventh grade crush. I had a crush on this man since we were in the seventh grade. We talked about the fact that my mother was still giving wisdom that she had always given to me. I had been married      before. It told me that he was the person I was supposed to be with. I have to tell you that we have been happily married for five years now."
       In  the past year, Brown moved to Oklahoma City and has been diagnosed with  ovarian cancer.  "I immediately went into the hospital," Brown said.  "We knew that breast and ovarian cancer are connected to a gene  we have in my family. God gave me everything I needed. I went into surgery  the next morning. I started chemotherapy in July. Now they can find no signs of cancer, so they run the tests twice when I come in [because they can't believe it.]
      Brown left the audience members filled with  hope. She is living proof that the disease can be licked and that early detection and treatment are a big part of the reason she has survived. Most importantly, she had information.  "We do know that we are surviving and we are surviving because we have taken the TEA and Turned Education into Action," Brown emphasized.  "I ask you to continue to do that because God only knows when we will be able to afford some of these hats. " It is a TEA that The Witness Project is serving up in the Madison area to African American women. Afterwards, Brown reflected on her positive approach to life.  "I remember what my mom said to me that a long life may not be good enough, but a good life is certainly long enough and I want both," Brown said with a laugh.  ";So I take care of myself as best I can. I know I am predisposed to cancer, but I won't  let cancer stop me. I will not let it become the victor in this fight that  I have on this earth. I think a positive attitude is 99 percent of moving forward and recovering. I also think service, giving back to others is also important. I tell everyone that we all have some skill, something we can do. You just do what you need to do to go about your life. And I enjoy fun."
      Her love of life is, indeed, infectious.
Hats on for women's health
By Jonathan Gramling