By Donna Letier and Julie Eggers, Co-Founders of Gardenuity
When someone we love is diagnosed with breast cancer, friendship often becomes a form of care.
It looks like sitting beside her during treatment—sometimes talking and sometimes simply being there.
It looks like quietly adding her children to the afternoon carpool because the day proved more exhausting than anyone expected. It is the meal left at the door, the questions written down for the doctor, the meeting covered by a coworker and the text that does not require a response.
It is remembering the scan date. Asking again next week. Continuing to show up long after everyone else assumes life has returned to normal.
Like so many of you, we know women who have faced breast cancer. We know their families, their friends and the circles of people who helped carry them through diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
Their stories are about medicine and research. But they are also stories of friendship, faith, family and hope.
“Breast cancer may happen to one person, but it calls an entire circle of people to show up.”
Most of Us Know Someone
The numbers help us understand the scale.
The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 321,910 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2026. About one in eight women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, and more than four million breast cancer survivors are living in the United States today.
Those numbers are sobering. But they cannot capture the millions of acts of friendship surrounding them.
There is the friend who sits beside someone during treatment, sometimes talking and sometimes simply being there.
There is the neighbor who quietly adds another family’s children to the afternoon carpool because treatment proved more exhausting than anyone expected.
There is the sister who keeps track of questions for the doctor. The coworker who covers a meeting. The friend who leaves dinner at the door without waiting to be asked. The family member who remembers the appointment, sends the text and continues checking in long after everyone else assumes life has returned to normal.
The Importance of Showing Up
When someone we love is going through breast cancer, we often worry about saying or doing the wrong thing. The situation feels too significant for ordinary words.
But perhaps ordinary acts are exactly what matter.
Drive the carpool. Bring the coffee. Sit through the appointment. Send the text without expecting an answer. Remember the day of the scan. Ask again next week.
Support does not always arrive as a grand gesture. More often, it appears as consistency—the quiet promise that someone will not have to navigate the difficult days alone.
Susan G. Komen® supports people facing breast cancer through research, advocacy, education and patient-care services. Its Breast Care Helpline connects patients and caregivers with trained oncology social workers and helpful resources.
These programs matter because treatment is only one part of what a patient may need. Practical help, reliable information, financial support and human connection can all become part of the care surrounding her.
“Hope is not always something we say. Sometimes hope looks like a ride, a meal, a handwritten note or a friend who keeps showing up.”
The Notes We Haven’t Forgotten
Last October, something happened during our first pink-bulb program that touched our entire Gardenuity team.
Customers included handwritten notes with the bulbs they sent.
Some were messages of encouragement to women beginning treatment. Some celebrated survivors. Some honored mothers, sisters and friends. Others were beautifully simple:
I am thinking about you.
You are stronger than you know.
I am with you.
Keep going.
Those notes reminded us that the most powerful part of a gift is often not the object itself. It is the message the gift carries.
The bulb became a way for one person to reach another and say: I see you. I am beside you. I believe in what comes next.
We stand in awe of the women who are going through breast cancer and those who have come through it—the faith they carry, the courage they demonstrate and the strength they find on days when strength may feel far away.
We also stand in awe of the friends who show up for them every day.
They sit through treatments, rearrange carpools, deliver meals, remember appointments and make the call. Their faithfulness and the courage of the women they support offer all of us profound lessons in friendship, hope and love.
One customer note from last October has stayed with our team. Shared here with permission, it offers a life lesson in what hope can look like when the future still feels uncertain:
My dear friend,
There is growth happening even in the seasons when we cannot yet see it. May this bulb remind you that hope is alive, faith can hold us steady and you are surrounded by people who will keep showing up.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
—Hebrews 11:1
I am beside you for all of it—the uncertain days, the difficult days and every beautiful day still to come.
Those words capture what we hope every pink bulb carries.
The bulb became a way for one person to reach another and say: I see you. I am beside you. I believe in what is still to come.
Why an Amaryllis Bulb?
Before an amaryllis stalk emerges, before the first bud forms and long before the flower opens, growth has already begun beneath the surface.
We may not be able to see it yet, but something hopeful is already underway.
Perhaps that is why an amaryllis feels like such a meaningful symbol for this story.
Each Pink Wax-Dipped Appleblossom Amaryllis is grown in Peru and requires no planting or watering. You simply place it somewhere you will see it and watch as the experience unfolds.
First, a small green tip emerges. Then the stalk begins to rise. A bud forms, color appears and eventually the flower opens.
One small sign of progress follows another.
A bulb does not bloom all at once, and it cannot be hurried. It grows according to its own timetable.
That feels especially meaningful during a season when progress may be difficult to see. Even before there is visible evidence, the bulb is holding everything it needs for what comes next.
“Before we can see the bloom, something beautiful is already growing. We believe hope can work that way, too.”
Hope Grows
For the second consecutive year, we are proud to support Susan G. Komen® through our limited-edition Hope Grows Wax-Dipped Appleblossom Amaryllis Bulbs.
Through October 31, 2026, Gardenuity will donate 15% from every $34 pink bulb sold to Susan G. Komen®.
But this campaign is about more than a pink bulb. It is about giving us another way to show up for someone we love.
This year, you can include your own personal note and add an acrylic “Hope Grows” tag to your bulb.
Send it to someone beginning treatment. Send it to a survivor whose strength inspires you. Send it to the friend who drove the carpool, delivered the meals or sat through the difficult appointments.
Send it in memory of someone whose life continues to bloom through the people who loved her.
Or place one where you will see it as a reminder to schedule a screening, check on a friend or offer the kind of practical help that can make a difficult day feel a little less difficult.
The flower will be beautiful.
But the hope—and the friendship—begins long before it blooms.
