Haywood County's HOPEful Living: Women's Cancer Support Group invites all women to its next monthly meeting from 5:30-7 p.m., Tuesday, August 21, at the MedWest-Haywood Fitness Center, 2nd-floor classroom.  A video, "Dead Girl Walking," will be shown and discussed.

The video tells an intimate and spirited story of a young woman's survival and the back-handed gifts her adventure with life-threatening illness bestowed on her life.  It gives a positive perspective on the challenges of a cancer diagnosis--truly a "hand in the dark" for those who face a life-threatening illness.

Marcy Brenner was diagnosed 12 years ago at 34 with breast cancer the same year she lost her mother to ovarian cancer.  This is her story from the brink of despair to being truly alive.  This film is for breast cancer survivors and their caregivers, for spiritual seekers, and for anyone whose life has been touched by a life-threatening illness.

"If I was offered a deal to go back in time and live my life without cancer, and all I would  have to give up was the insights, experience and purpose that have come to me as a result, I would not make that bargain.  I was given a wake-up call to life."

She resides on Ocracoke Island off the coast of North Carolina's outer banks with her husband and daughter. A singer-songwriter, Marcy recently performed in Asheville with Molasses Creek. 

Contact Sandi Riggs at 627-9666 or riggs_sandi@msn.com.