Going Pink: Breast Cancer Photo Exhibit Brings Disease Into Focus

The face of breast cancer comes into sharp focus thanks to an exhibit that’s now on display in State College — but you better hurry if you want to see it.

Today is the final day that a traveling photo exhibit, titled “67 women, 67 counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania,” will be on display at Mount Nittany Medical Center.

It tells the stories of breast cancer survivors from every county in the state. 

The exhibit, which was started by Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC) founder Pat Halpin-Murphy in 1994, was originally created to educate people about breast cancer at a time when many people didn’t know much about the disease.

“It started when Pat decided she wanted to give a voice to the women of Pennsylvania,” PBCC Communications Director Natalie Kopp says. “There was a stigma associated with breast cancer at the time and she wanted to stop that.”

Representing Centre County is Tammy Miller, an author and motivational speaker who has been featured in the exhibit since it was last updated in 2011.

Miller was an easy person for the PBCC to find. Her first book about her battle with cancer titled “The Lighter Side of Breast Cancer Recovery: Lessons Learned Among the Paths to Healing” came out in 2001 and she has frequently spoken at charity and cancer awareness events for the PBCC over the years. 

“I’m a spokesperson and I do a lot of events,” Miller says. “Whenever somebody asks me to do an event [related to breast cancer awareness] I almost always say yes. I usually have the tips of my hair dyed hot pink so I’m easy to notice.” 

Miller, who has since written two more books about fighting breast cancer, saw the exhibit when it arrived at Mount Nittany Medical Center last week.

For her, the best part of the exhibit is the way it helps people relate to individuals who’ve had cancer and learn about their personal stories.

“First off, it puts a face to the people,” Miller says. “One out of eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, which is a huge number, but when you see the face, they’re not just another name or statistic anymore. They’re somebody’s sister or aunt or mother or grandmother and that’s the great part of the exhibit is that it helps you relate to those people.”

Over the past 20 years, the exhibit has moved across the state county by county. The last time the photo gallery stopped in Centre County was in 2008 when it spent a week at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The exhibit is refreshed with the stories of new women every three to four years. It is scheduled for additions in 2015. 

Since many breast cancer survivors in Pennsylvania are members of the PBCC, it isn’t difficult for the organization to find women willing to be featured in the exhibit. 

“Every so many years when we redo the exhibit, we put out a call asking for women to be featured,” Kopp says. “There’s also support groups … that we can go to.”

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