CLAUDIA AGUDELO -- For a good cause

-- story by Mathis Winkler

When Claudia Agudelo’s mother-in-law, Aura, died of cancer six months

ago, a five-year struggle had come to an end.

It started when a lump in Aura’s breast led to her cancer diagnosis.

Then liver and bone cancer followed, and the grandmother of five returned

to her native Columbia for the last two years of her life.

“She didn’t want to go and fought to the end,” said Agudelo, 34,

sitting in her Corona del Mar jewelry store on East Coast Highway.

“When you lose someone, you don’t realize right away what you have

lost,” she added, her eyes filling with tears.

Last Thursday, Agudelo began honoring her mother-in-law’s memory. At a

reception in her store, the jeweler presented a cancer pin that she

designed.

All proceeds from the $48 pin -- a silver ribbon with a crystal stone

-- will benefit cancer research at Hoag Hospital.

Silver is Agudelo’s favorite metal.

“I have a special feeling for it,” she said. “It’s a soft material and

anything that’s soft is accessible. Feeling will go through it.”

Sitting in a yellow chair, Agudelo surveyed her store that had been

laid out in pink -- the color of breast cancer awareness -- for the

occasion. Pink and silver balloons floated below the ceiling and small

bags stuffed with pink paper lined the walls. Pink lilies released their

powerful scent.

Wearing a pink cardigan, pink eye shadow and lipstick and beaded slip

pumps with pink flowers, Agudelo had dressed for the occasion herself.

Although Agudelo had originally designed the pin with a pink stone,

she’s since changed it to a clear crystal “so that it’s for all cancers,”

she said.

While including awareness about all forms of cancer, Agudelo’s initial

decision to single out breast cancer seems especially poignant in Orange

County, which has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the

country.

Helping her assistants put on the finishing touches for the reception,

Agudelo reiterated her motivation for designing the pin.

“Cancer’s here,” she said, a row of silver bracelets clinkering around

her wrist. “We have to expect it at any time. The lesson you get is that

every day [can be] your last day.”

FYI

To purchase a cancer pin, call (949) 566-0181 or visit Agudelo’s store

at 2721 E. Coast Highway in Corona del Mar. All proceeds will go to

cancer research at Hoag Hospital.