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Models Are The Pictures Of Health

Photo by Huth & Booth

Kathleen Jacobs of Valrico is a 13-year breast cancer survivor who now counsels other survivors through the American Cancer Society’s Reach to Recovery support group

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

BRANDON - When it came to cameras, Valrico resident Lila Campanelli-Purifoy would just as soon be out of the picture.

"I never liked my picture, so I avoided cameras," she said. "I just didn't like the way I looked in photographs."

That was before Nov. 27, 2006.

"It's funny how your entire perspective changes when a doctor tells you that you have cancer," she said.

Campanelli-Purifoy was well-informed about cancer. She volunteered for 20 years with the American Cancer Society and spent three years coordinating the Road to Recovery program, which provides rides to treatment for patients, before being hired as a full-time employee by the Greater Tampa Unit of the American Cancer Society and working there for five years.

She had gone back to volunteering when she received the same traumatic news she had shouldered other women through since 1988. Campanelli-Purifoy had breast cancer, and the disease was about to invade her lymph nodes. She needed a mastectomy, followed by months of chemotherapy.

"I couldn't have asked for a better support system," she said. "All of the women I'd worked with over the years came forward to offer their help and support. I knew I was never alone in this."

When Doris Sidoti of Valrico, a board member for the Southeast Hillsborough Unit of the American Cancer Society, approached Campanelli-Purifoy about being a model for the 2008 Calendar of Cancer Survivors, she said her old inhibitions about photos seemed petty.

"I hadn't yet gone through breast reconstruction, and I was panic-stricken because I didn't have anything to wear," Campanelli-Purifoy said. "So I pulled out a sparkly tube top from my disco days and a pair of silk pants that are probably 25 years old, and voila! Some things are timeless. I think the photos are fabulous."

For her Miss July photo, Campanelli-Purifoy is casually seated on the bow of Sandy and Dottie Berger-MacKinnon's boat anchored off Davis Islands. The photographers, Betty Huth and Ed Booth of Huth & Booth: The Portrait Gallery of Brandon, also captured her image on the MacKinnons' dock, with their plantation-style home previously owned by former Bucs coach Tony Dungy behind her.

"They really put me at ease," she said. "I liked all the pictures."

Sidoti said she didn't have to twist Huth's and Booth's arms to persuade them to take part in the calendar project. Booth sits on the Southeast Hillsborough Unit board with Sidoti, and the couple often take photographs free for families battling cancer.

"What we wanted to say in these photos is that life doesn't stop at breast cancer," said Huth, whose mother died of breast cancer. "These women are vital, active, attractive and powerful."

With that in mind, some of the models were photographed with unlikely props.

Valrico resident and seven-year breast cancer survivor Sue Gagain may appear perfectly pretty in pink for her March photograph, in which she's standing next to a pink bike in a formal pink dress and wide-brimmed pink bonnet, surrounded by a garden of flowers in varying hues of pink.

It's only in the outtake photo on the back of the calendar that you can spot her pink tennis shoes beneath the ball gown.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Tracy Sheehan of Tampa, a two-time breast cancer survivor, posed on the wing of Brandon resident Fred Schwabe's plane to symbolize keeping her spirits soaring despite eight surgeries and a double mastectomy.

"People who have seen the photos have all said the same thing," Huth said. "The photos show the strength, the power of these women. These are women who are strong and confident."

"We see so much of the negative side of breast cancer," said model Virginia Carter of Valrico, a five-year survivor. "This shows the beautiful side. It shows people that there is life after breast cancer. We can either choose to be victims or we can choose to live. This calendar is a reflection of women who have chosen to live."

Sidoti is amazed that they were able to produce the calendar in four months.

"I didn't think we could get it done that fast," she said.

The problem wasn't finding models or the photographers. Sidoti knew she had those in the bag. It was finding a printer at a reasonable price.

She happened to mention her dilemma to a client one day. Coincidentally, the client, Tom Rice, owned a graphics and printing business, Rice Graphics on Oakfield Drive in Brandon. Rice and his daughter-in-law, Heather, are involved in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life because they have had family and friends with breast cancer.

"This project was a joy to do," said Heather Rice, who was on hand for the calendar unveiling with her husband, Bo, on Nov. 13 at Huth & Booth's gallery at 1171 Nikki View Drive. "I've been dreaming in pink for the last month, but it's been great. We've already had women approach us about doing it next year."

Heather Rice said she was especially proud of the way her husband turned the "8" in the year 2008 into the pink breast cancer ribbon.

"That will be hard to top for 2009, but he'll find a way," she said.

Other models for the calendar are Sidoti, Berger-MacKinnon of Tampa, Dana Dittmar of Lithia, Becky Lloyd of Valrico, Peggie Sherry of Lutz, Kathleen Jacobs of Valrico and, on the cover, the Dragon Lady crew team sponsored by physician Kathryn Kepes and the Center for Radiation Oncology of Brandon.

The calendar is available for $15. Profits go to the American Cancer Society. Call (813) 571-2100.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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