The Pink Rose Project was created to honor the memory of my first cousin pictured here...she was more my sister than my cousin.  She was stricken with ovarian cancer two weeks before her only daughter was married.  She battled her cancer valiantly; devoted to the passionate conviction that she had to eek out as much time as possible with her daughter as she embarked on this new chapter in her life.  Rosa, which means both pink and rose in Spanish, overcame the devastating side effects of her chemotherapy to be able to enjoy the birth of her grandson Gianlucca a mere seven months before succumbing to the inevitable conclusion.

Rosa was very attentive to her health before her diagnosis was confirmed after surgical intervention to correct what was thought to be an intestinal obstruction.  She had gone to specialists pursuing the cause of her discomfort.  Gynecologists insisted that her symptoms were gastrointestinal in nature and the gastroenterologists insisted they were gynecological.  The fact that there is no trustworthy diagnostic test capable of detecting ovarian cancer contributes to the very high mortality rate; it is rarely detected before it has progressed too far to provide much chance of survival.  So it was with Rosa.  Her intestinal obstruction was the ovarian cancer...it had grown into her intestines, a part of her bladder and a portion of her stomach.

With the need to fund a reliable diagnostic tool in mind I have created the Pink Rose Project.  Ace Hardware @ Cedar Park will feature a pink rose product periodically.  A portion of the profit from the sale of each product will be donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.  Currently we are featuring bubble bath that comes in the form of pink rose petals.  A set of twelve sells for $6.99 of which $1.50 is being donated to the OCRF.