'Crabby Cards' give cancer patients well wishes, humor

The recurrence of his former mother-in-law's cancer was in 2005, around the same time the graphic artist was approached to design a line of greeting cards for an event geared toward breast cancer awareness.

He drew a blue-haired woman carrying the pink breast cancer ribbon with a 10-line poem that ended, "all boobs are precious, so let's find a cure."

Since then, Mr. Clarke of Arnold has developed more than 200 designs for cancer-themed cards through his home-based business, Crabby Cards.

He also has designed logos and other designs for individuals and various organizations, including Anne Arundel Medical Center's Breast Center. He balances this with his full-time job and his part-time job teaching greeting-card design at Anne Arundel Community College.

"Most of the women I've talked to don't want to cry," Mr. Clarke said. "They just want to be able to laugh at themselves. When you get too down and out, there's a point where you have no choice but to laugh about it."

Mr. Clarke's homegrown business is one of many ventures with merchandise geared toward cancer survivors, patients and their families. The pink ribbons - a symbol of breast cancer awareness - are increasingly being placed on handbags, hats and totes, even on the bumpers of cars.

In California, cancer survivor Dianne White Crawford created her Web site, www.pinkribbongifts.com, eight years ago. She sells jewelry, clothing and stationary featuring the pink ribbon. All profits from the site are donated to services in the area. Most recently, she donated $25,000 to the Sheila R. Veloz Breast Imaging Center in Valencia, Calif.

Last month, the Web site added Crabby Cards to its list of merchandise.

"I thought they were hysterical," said Sabrina Pate, marketing manager of the Pinkribbon Web site. "It helps people to know that there's something out there that can help raise money and it helps if there's also a card or bracelet that has a poem on it that might make them feel good."

Mr. Clarke has a room in his home designated for his work. Typically, he'll write the wording first, and then come up with a design for the cards. It takes him about eight hours to do 10 cards. His work ranges from the female characters he has created, to caricatures of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Dolly Parton.

One card simply reads "hang in there!" and features a woman dangling from the pink ribbon. Another features a woman in a hospital gown saying, "they say laughter is the best medicine, so how about we skip the damn chemo and try laughing gas?!"

These days, Mr. Clarke's concern is for his young daughter. His former mother-in-law is doing fine, but his ex-wife has tested positive for a gene that puts her at a higher risk for cancer. But he said his experience also has made him more willing to do what he can to raise awareness.

"After seeing this and being a man, it's difficult to understand what this can be like, even though men can get breast cancer," Mr. Clarke said. "I love it, but I still have to work my day job and my part-time job. Sometimes it gets overwhelming, but then I get (e-mails) about the greeting cards or designs and someone saying how much it meant to them.

I'm happy to lend a hand to any organization, as long as they don't mind cartoons."

Mr. Clarke's work can be viewed at www.crabbycards.com