John and Mad Hatter Ball honoree Marie Cogar.

On Saturday, March 29, Marie Cogar was crowned the 20th Mad Hatter at the annual Mad Hatter’s Benefit for Creative Healing Connections held at the Hotel Saranac. In addition, board president Helene Gibbens announced that the organization will once again hold traditional two-night retreats for women living with cancer and other chronic diseases and a separate retreat for active duty and veteran women. Funds raised by the benefit allow Connections to provide scholarships for retreat attendees so that any woman desiring to come may do so.

Creative Healing Connections was a pioneer in holding retreats for women living with cancer. It launched its retreats in 1998, six years before John Hopkins University held the “first” Metastatic Breast Cancer Retreat in the US. The difference was that while CHC had women so diagnosed, JHU’s was for only women living with that disease. CHC may have hosted the nation’s first healing retreats for military women, active duty and veterans, and from any branch of the service.

The need for Creative Healing Connections retreats remains urgent.

Despite advances in medical research and treatment, cancer rates are rising in the United States. Women under 50 now face an eighty-two percent higher risk of getting cancer than men of a similar age, with cancer rates rising significantly for younger women. Breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths, and, beginning in 2021, lung cancer deaths in women have exceeded those of men in the under 65 population.

Research has revealed that factors contributing to the rise of cancer amongst women include increasing levels of alcohol consumption and exposure to cancer-causing environmental factors such as microplastics in our food and air supplies, radon and rising levels of air pollution. Research also indicates that later childbearing may be a factor, as well as increasing obesity, which has been linked to endometrial cancer, amongst others.

Submitted photos by Naj Wikoff Matthew and Mackenzie Mallette.

Breast cancer rates have been increasing at 1.4% a year since the mid-2000s, and now, one out of eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Positive is that earlier detection rates have enabled earlier treatment and thus reduced cancer deaths over the same period.

Since Creative Healing Connections launched its retreat for women in the military in 2005, women went from fourteen percent to over seventeen and a half percent of military personnel today. Following the 2013 ban on women serving in combat roles, women in combat and leadership roles have increased significantly and, with it, increased PTSD rates.

Female veteran PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma rates are now higher than men, with one in three women being diagnosed with Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Increasing levels of urban combat experienced by both men and women during the Gulf Wars have been identified as a cause of rising PTSD rates in both men and women. MST rates have also risen to over 40 percent, an increase mainly because women in the military have become more forthcoming; the rates have always been high, and with more women in leadership, the rank and file have felt

safer in sharing their incidents. CHC’s retreats have always been women-led, and participants’ privacy and safety are a priority, so they proved attractive to women veterans and others.

In many respects, Creative Healing Connections hosting retreats that included incorporating the arts and being in nature can be traced back to 1886 when Dr. Livingston Trudeau and his colleague Dr. Lawrason Brown first engaged their TB patients in a range of arts activities and evaluated the outcomes as part of their treatment plan for tuberculosis at Trudeau’s Adirondack Cottage Sanitorium.

Dick Jarvis and Barbara Rottier.

“Creative Healing Connections is doing very well,” said board president Helene Gibbens. This year, we are growing. We will again be hosting two full-night retreats for women living with cancer and chronic diseases and for women in the military, retreats that were our tradition pre-COVID. We are back. We opened registration three days ago and are already two-thirds full, so we know there is a need. If women are interested, now’s the time to sign up.”

“Women need support, need to strengthen their self-care skills to help them manage the quality of their lives when they live with cancer, chronic illness, and often with mental health issues, particularly military women living with PTSD, and military sexual trauma. So far, half the people are new, which is exciting because awareness of our program is growing. The sense of community between new and returning participants is great.”

Creative Healing Connections is now providing virtual community calls on an ongoing basis, where women can more frequently feel the support of others. As part of these calls, CHC is providing access to new skills on each call and scheduling the frequency of the calls based on participant feedback.

The Mad Hatters Ball is a very fun fundraiser. It is delightful to see all the creative hats, some formerly owned by Ursula Trudeau, known for her array of hats, and others created by the attendees.

“We’re here to support the Mad Hatter’s Ball,” said Mackenzie Mallette. We know people living with cancer; my uncle died of cancer last year. Programs like Creative Healing Connections and this event make a difference.”

Tori Vazquez, winner for the best hat.

“The best part of our retreats is you get to see women who are so isolated, who have constant trouble with finances and other service challenges, blossom when they meet their sisters; it’s so rewarding, said CHC board member and Navy vet Stacie Hurwitch. “For me, it’s also continuing my desire to serve; it’s not work; I get to hang out with my girls, both in person at the retreats and in our online community gatherings.”

Double cancer survivor and Mad Hatter of the Year Marie Cogar shared a variety of tips and lessons learned from her journey back to health stressing again and again the importance of connecting with other women with cancer and the importance of using the arts, nature, and friendships as part of her healing journey. Her greatest paise was for her husband John.

“The main thing I learned from Marie is optimism and resilience,” said John Cogar. “I think that’s the two qualities most cancer survivors try to have.”

The Ball ended with the most applause and wolf whistles going to Tori Vazquez for arriving with the best hat. To donate, volunteer, or register for a retreat, contact CHC at https://www.creativehealingconnections.org.

CHC Board members Sydney Schmidt and Helene Gibbens (president) with Nick Friedman.