Jeweller designs to heal

During her breast cancer treatment, a few things made Laura Bellamy Fitzpatrick (above right) feel better. They included her family, her neighbours and stones


During her breast cancer treatment, a few things made Laura Bellamy Fitzpatrick feel better. They included her family, her neighbours and stones.

Sometimes, when Fitzpatrick, 41, of Darien, Connecticut, USA, was receiving chemotherapy and radiation, the mother of three would bring along a piece of pale blue aquamarine and rub it through her fingers.

The warmth that emanated from the stone was soothing, kind of like a warm bath.

So soothing, she started to fashion pieces of the light-catching transparent stones into chokers, necklaces and earrings. She wore them to her treatment sessions at New York City's Memorial Sloan-Ketterring Cancer Center.

And people noticed. Some even offered to buy the pieces right off her neck.

"I don't know exactly why they made me feel good, but they did,'' says Fitzpatrick, fingering a necklace of chunky aquamarine that sets off her light eyes. "And they seem to make other people feel good, too.''

Friends offered her all kinds of theories on the stone's possible therapeutic effects.

There were homeopaths who told her the small, smooth rocks gave off healing energy. And other healers who told her that a water stone, such as aquamarine, was probably a natural source of comfort.

"Some of them sound kooky, frankly. And I don't like to sound kooky,'' says Fitzpatrick, who is conservative by nature and doesn't claim her creations have any real medicinal value. "But whatever properties they have, they made me feel warm and good. I happen to think they give off good energy.''

Maybe, she muses, the effect of her designs just stems from the fact that the stones are strung together with good intentions. For Fitzpatrick's stunning creations are now playing a part in aiding breast cancer research.

The former interior designer founded Blue Sky Jewels recently, three years after she completed her aggressive cancer treatments.

Her pledge is that all after-tax profits will go to aid breast cancer research.

She includes among her role models actor Paul Newman, who has turned a retailing enterprise into a powerful fund-raising vehicle for charity, and Bali-based jeweller John Hardy, who often cites spiritual influences for his designs.

"My goal is to make beautiful things that also help people,'' says Fitzpatrick, who makes each piece in her collection by hand. "I have a daughter (five-year-old Elizabeth), and I don't want her to go through some of the surgeries and things I have.''

The success of the business has been a little startling for Fitzpatrick, who just by knocking on doors and using her contacts in breast cancer fund-raising circles, has landed her wares in Saks Fifth Avenue and, more recently, Neiman Marcus.

She also takes private commissions. Her signature-line necklaces retail for between $225 and $900. Earrings start in the $50 range.

"I am a bit astonished by the luck I've had. The day Neiman's said yes, I was squealing all the way home,'' Fitzpatrick says. "I just show up, people see the stuff and say yes. It's been very gratifying.''

Celebrity fans of her line - which features works in transparent stones such as aquamarine, amethyst, citrine and morganite - include actress/singer Vanessa Williams (a high-school classmate of Fitzpatrick's) and powerhouse breast cancer fund raiser and cosmetics mogul Evelyn Lauder. Both women have purchased Blue Sky Jewels as gifts for women undergoing breast cancer treatment.

"One of the biggest challenges I have right now is keeping up with demand,'' says Fitzpatrick, who sometimes works until 2.00am stringing stones.

For Fitzpatrick, whose cancer was diagnosed when she was 37, the incentive to support research stems from her passion to learn more about the genetic components of cancer.

Her mother, diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer at age 54, died after a six-year battle with the disease. A short time later, Fitzpatrick discovered a lump in her own breast.

The strong genetic relationship between breast and ovarian cancers was among the reasons Fitzpatrick was compelled to devote profits to research.

She also started an informal support group for younger women going through breast cancer. "When I got diagnosed, I was one of the few people in the waiting room who had a two-year-old crawling in my lap,'' she says. "I'm very open about my experiences, because I want to be there for other women going through this.''

Her fund-raising benefactors include the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, founded by Lauder in 1993, research programmes at Sloan Kettering, and the Greenwich, Connecticut-based Breast Cancer Alliance.

Fitzpatrick says her business is a creative way for her to repay the people who supported her during her own treatment.

"This is for my doctors, the sister (Susan Harris of Greenwich) who made sure my boys never missed a hockey practice or a sailing lesson, my sons, my daughter, my husband, my wonderful neighbours,'' she says. "I may never be able to give millions of dollars away, but this is my way of doing something.''

© Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service