LaNell and Richard Melancon became concerned about how many clients and friends were being affected by breast cancer. Together, they own and manage Melancon’s Jewelers in Abbeville.

They have formed a local support organization for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and have information posted on their Web site at www.thepinklinks.org. LaNell said the basis for the organization was to raise funds for the local Miles Perret Cancer Center as well as the national Koman for the Cure Organization.

“Women have just recently started talking openly about breast cancer, because we were taught to be quiet about our body. Also, women just don’t put themselves first,” commented LaNell, “and Vermilion Parish has one of the highest death rates for cancer in the nation. Personally, I’m not a cancer survivor; but I felt I had to do something to help.”

She described a story told by one of the group’s members. One of the women in our group was shopping in Lafayette and happened to be wearing a t-shirt thepinklinks.org have been selling as a fund-raiser. Another woman approached her in the store to inquire if she was a cancer survivor and for information about thepinklinks.org group. During their conversation, the non-member woman broke down crying saying she had just received the results of her biopsy that showed she too had breast cancer.

LaNell said this story emphasized why she was working to promote the local group “so that women would not feel like they’re out there by themselves.”

For more information on thepinklinks.org, LaNell can be reached at LaNell@Mjewelers.com, or by phone at 893-1900.