The fifth annual Best Kept Secret bra auction will be held April 30 at the Triangle Nite Club in Sidney. Registration will begin at 5 p.m. with the live auction at 7 p.m. There will be a few changes this year, the first being only 40 bras will be accepted beginning today and ending April 16.

Montana Breast and Cervical Health Program (MBCHP) director, Angie Thiessen-Idoate, has got a year under her belt and plenty of fun up her sleeve for this year’s event with the great Montana band “Bucky Beaver Ground Grippers” beginning at 9 p.m. after the auction.

Proceeds from the Best Kept Secret go toward women’s cancer screenings for those eligible on basis of age, income and insurance status. The Women’s Health Coalition, where volunteers are always welcome, also supports this event. “If we didn’t have volunteers, this event would not be where it is today,” Idoate said. “We’ve got a great group of people on this coalition that has tripled in size since it started in 2002.” Mary Jane Anvik, Richland County public home health visiting nurse, has a different way of looking at the Best Kept Secret this year and a personal reason to be on the Women’s Health Coalition. Anvik was diagnosed in September 2009 with triple negative breast cancer.

Anvik is no stranger to breast cancer, as her great-grandmother died at the age of 42. Anvik is also a registered nurse, and her mother, Carole Crowell, did her master’s thesis in nursing on self-breast examination in women who have had mastectomies. “In 1987, mom started a clinic through Bozeman Deaconess Hospital,” Anvik said.

Anvik was a firm believer in her mother’s cause in self-breast exams, but also to have the yearly routine screening with her physician, along with mammograms. “I had my yearly exam done with Wendy Wiltzen, FNP, in June of 2009,” Anvik said. “By Sept. 29, I had ignored a pain, for a month, under my right breast – a burning pain.” As Anvik relived the moments, she said, we all have pains throughout our bodies that we just put aside.

With the burning pain, she found a small lump. Anvik also said there was something under her left breast. “All of a sudden it was 2 inches – from nothing in June till September, it had grown that quick.”

With no time to waste after the diagnosis, Wiltzen called Billings to set up an appointment for Anvik. “I was in Billings the next day,” she said. A lumpectomy was performed without delay. With no cancer in the lymph nodes, Anvik was advised to treat the breast cancer with chemotherapy, and then radiation to follow still this year.

Anvik feels her journey has been a fairly easy road, with exception to being very tired as afternoon rolls around and having no hair. Anvik admits if it were not for the support of her family, friends, church family and co-workers she would not have made it without their constant prayers and support.

On Christmas Eve, Anvik was surprised and truly blessed when her family gathered around her with T-shirts that read, “Fight Like A Girl.”

“I found myself crying just knowing everybody was supporting me, even our dogs had pink sweaters on,” she said.

She’s also very thankful to support groups such as Bosom Buddies, JUGs, along with Theresa Livers and Patti Iversen. “They are my heroes,” Anvik said.

Anvik could have stayed at the place at the beginning of her journey feeling embarrassed to talk about this disease that changed her life, but that’s not the case today. “I tell everybody,” she said. “With the bra auction, last year was the first year I had attended, (and maybe because I work so closely with Angie at the health department) but was apprehensive to do so, and I even made a bra – which I deducted from my taxes! Yes, I look at this project a little differently, as it has directly touched my life.”

Anonymous people have also touched Anvik’s life by giving quilts or the prayer shawl she uses at every chemo appointment. “I wrap myself in that shawl every time I’m in that chair,” Anvik says. “You will never know how much I appreciate that gift.”

Idoate says, “There’s power in numbers, and that’s what happens with this project.” She encourages people to show support by being at the event, or by becoming a coalition member. If you don’t want to be a part of this particular event, show your support at Tough Enough to Wear Pink at the Richland County Fair & Rodeo.

There are awareness events all over the world, and Idoate has the chance to cycle in the three-day Susan B. Komen tour in Aspen this summer. Since she has taken the position as MBCHP director, Idoate has lost three friends to breast and cervical cancer. “When I close my door to cry at the loss of these friends, I know that I’m going to do something that matters to me – cycle to bring awareness, and that’s what drives me,” she said. “But what we’re doing locally, that’s something I live every day. I get to be a part of something this great.”

Be a part of the Best Kept Secret April 30 to help women of six surrounding counties, including Prairie, Dawson, Fallon, McCone, Wibaux and Richland, with cancer screenings. For more information about the Best Kept Secret or screening questions, contact Idoate at 433-2207, or e-mail to aidoate@richland.org.

homespun@sidneyherald.com