Sylvia Simmons discovered jewelry making as she recuperated from breast cancer surgery in July 2010. Photo by Sarah Johnson.

Originally published Jan. 19, 2012.

Sylvia Simmons doesn't call herself lucky. She calls herself blessed.

Two years ago, the then 49-year-old Markle woman (and self-admitted procrastinator) received a reminder from her doctor about her annual mammogram while flipping through the mail. She tossed the note in a pile.

After a little while, however, she inexplicably dug the note out again. It was God, she says, who made her pay attention.

"I could have blown it off," Simmons says. "I could have skipped a year."

Instead of skipping the appointment, Simmons kept it. Then she was called back for a second mammogram. And then a biopsy.

"It actually looked like buckshot," she says, remembering the scan doctors showed her.

On May 5, she received a diagnosis confirming stage two cancer in her right breast. Because it was detected early, the cancer was still contained and manageable.
Before her diagnosis, Simmons' husband Brian had been preparing for knee replacement surgery recommended by his doctor. With Sylvia's cancer surgery and treatments on the horizon, he opted to put his own medical needs on hold.

Simmons had been planning a surprise 50th anniversary party with her sister-in-law for her husband's parents in June. When asked if she wanted to postpone the party until after her surgery, Simmons had a quick answer: "Heck no."

She decided to have the surgery after the anniversary party, and opted to have a total mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. On July 4, 2010, she left the hospital and declared her "independence from cancer."

"Sometimes I feel a little guilty for getting by so easily," she says. She was in the hospital for only two days. Simmons never had to have any chemotherapy, radiation or other cancer treatments.

Before her surgery, Simmons had discovered a box of beads in her attic while looking for pictures for the anniversary party. She kept the box, thinking it would keep her occupied during her recuperation. Not only did beading keep her occupied, it provided her with a whole new venture.

"I start out with some left over beads and fishing line," she says. "I have over 300 (jewelry) pieces now."
As Simmons began making jewelry, she realized that she enjoyed being able to wear things that made her feel pretty as she was healing from surgery and going to doctors appointments. Now, she hopes that her jewelry can do the same for other women.

As her collection grew, her family encouraged her to begin selling. She set up a pin board for her pieces in her husband's computer repair store in Markle and started Sylvia's Jewels. In August, 2011, she started selling her wares on Etsy.com, an online market, under the shop name BCBeauty.

Simmons specializes in beadwork, and each of her pieces is one of a kind. She says that her styles are a little eclectic, but she also tries to cater to current trends and what individual customers like.

Even though Sylvia's Jewels is currently the Simmons' main source of income (they closed The Computer Shack in order for Brian to have knee replacement in the winter of 2011), making jewelry is not all about the money for Sylvia.

"[When I got cancer] I told God, ‘Hey, I'm listening, and if there's some sort of work you want me to do by surviving this, let me know,'" she says. "I feel like my platform found me - to urge other women to get mammograms."

Simmons likes marketing her jewelry at art shows and markets best because she interacts one on one with people. She intentionally does not post prices on her jewelry at shows.

"I want to make you talk to me," she says. "When someone gets some of my jewelry, I want them to know why I do this."

Simmons says that at least two of her close friends have had their first mammograms because of her, and hopes that more will do the same.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mammogram screening rates for American women 40 years old or older have fallen by 2.5 percent or more in all age groups (40-49 years, 50-64 years, and 65 and older). The risk of contracting breast cancer increases with age.

Simmons says she was astonished to learn that Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential hopeful John Edwards who died of cancer in 2010, had been diagnosed after neglecting her mammogram appointments for four years.

"There's still some kind of stigma that women are not having this done," she says. Simmons tries to tell women that she has always been treated with respect and dignity at her mammogram appointments, and offers advice and solace to those who also face the disease. She says she has found her niche as a breast cancer advocate.

"This disease does not have to kill you," Simmons says. "It has changed my life for the better."

Simmons' jewelry shop online can be found at etsy.com/people/BCBeauty, or you can contact her at sylsimmons@msn.com.

Sylvia Simmons discovered jewelry making as she recuperated from breast cancer surgery in July 2010. Since then her hobby has turned into a business and a way for her to talk to women about her newfound passion: breast cancer advocacy.