Survivor Sells Wine for Cancer Research

HOUSTON - She has the nice car, nice house and the early retirement package, but there is one thing that 56-year-old Emma Jacobs could never buy … immunity.

"I am a breast cancer survivor," said Jacobs.

It has been nine years since Jacobs suddenly felt something in her breast. It was Stage Three cancer, and it meant months of struggling through a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and answering some pretty tough questions from her young son.

"He was six. He was really scared," said Jacobs. "I remember him saying to me, 'Can I live with Patrick when you die?' I wasn't married to Patrick at the time."

Jacobs is now married to Patrick Woerner and her son never lost his home or his mother. But a six-year-old boy should never worry about where he is going to live, and there is something about the experience that Jacobs will always carry with her.

"Suddenly you realize that, yeah, having a nice car and a nice house and all the pretty things, they're great," said Jacobs. "They're the cherry on the top, but at the end of the day, if you don't have your health, you're in big trouble."

"In England, they have free medicine, but it's not free and you stop doing these supplements and different things to make you feel better because it becomes very expensive," said Jacobs.

Jacobs fundraising did not stop there.

Thanks to a quirky idea from a friend who owns a California winery, Jacobs is now using a very unusual weapon in the fight against breast cancer -- wine.

"One day, he called me up and said, 'How about I make a rose for you for breast cancer?' I went, 'Wow! What an idea.'"

The $28 pink wine has translated into a lot of green.

In 2009, the proceeds funded a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The year before, they went to The Rose, a non-profit organization that provides free mammograms and testing.

This year, the wine will lose its color. Bad weather wiped out the grapes used to make the pink stuff, so Jacobs will be selling a white wine.

While she cannot control the weather, Jacobs can guide her passion to give back.

"The things I've gotten involved with breast cancer has taken me to are far more personal intimate things than the journey I was on before," said Jacobs.

"My life before was about building a business and making money and being important. Now its about people and passions and feelings and sensitivity."

To order wine from Jacobs, send an e-mail message to emma@jacobswoerner.com or contact her by phone at 713-862-6010.

On the Web:

Juslyn Vineyards in St. Helena, Calif. -- http://www.juslynvineyards.com/