Kristin Mccain-Carter
2021 Participant/Breast Cancer Survivor
Key West, FL

I’ve tried to write this story about 50 different times. It’s hard to put into words the exact emotions that any of my breast cancer experience has provided me. I applied to Little Pink Houses of Hope for a retreat towards the beginning stages of my diagnosis. I was sick in bed from chemo, couldn’t go anywhere because of a pandemic (COVID-19), and just happened to run across the organization in a breast cancer Facebook support group that I am a part of. It was honestly a time passer to fill out the application. HOWEVER… when I got the email that my family was chosen?! I literally gasped and screamed and my husband thought there was something REALLY wrong! HAHA! The joy that Little Pink provided started from that day and just kept growing. I got to bring along my then 5-year-old and 3-year old from Tulsa Oklahoma (where we live) all the way to Key West Florida! The whole week was incredible. We were just starting to see the pandemic slowly dying down, things were open, people were bustling, and the water washed every single fear I had about breast cancer away, for that moment. I got to be free. I got to feel the wind on my face on a yacht! My family and I got to go kayaking on the ocean and hold a real-life conch. Most of all, I got to connect with other thrivers and survivors and make some, what I hope to be, lifelong friends!! We ate, we played, we ate some more, and we got to experience some real-life joy for an entire week. Joy that we had needed so desperately since that first day of diagnosis. Little Pink Houses of Hope and the local sponsors were incredible. Our retreat contact person shared all the best tips and tricks to haul kiddos around and places to take them. She REALLY went above and beyond. We had a blast. I got to introduce the ocean to my boys. They got to experience the world in a different light than they ever had. I have no doubt there is probably not a single way I would have been able to take them to Key West without Little Pink. We are SO beyond grateful for our experience. These memories, along with the pictures we received, will last us a lifetime plus some! THANK YOU!!