Timothy Stanley lost his wife, Sandra, to an aggressive form of cancer in 2010.
Since her diagnosis, Stanley has been dedicating his energy to encouraging those impacted by cancer one bead at a time.
Instead of letting his best friend's death dim his bright spirit, Stanley decided there was something he and his wife could still give to others.
"I just thought let's do something for people where I can give them a bracelet for cancer that they can wear for comfort or whatever that shows they support it, and they know somebody has been there and they understand what you're going through," he said.
Stanley has made more than 6,000 of the hand-beaded bracelets. He gives them out at parades and events and to the people he meets along the way.
Stanley includes his name, address and phone number with each of the bracelets to let the wearers know he's there to talk.
"I got a call from a lady in January of last year by the name of Maria, from Florida, that said she got sent a cancer bracelet," he said. "I said I was in Vegas a week ago and she said that's where she got it from, 'Somebody in Vegas knows me that I have cancer,' and mailed her that bracelet to Florida."
Stanley has given the pink bracelets to men and women alike.
"Everybody knows pink," he said.
Stanley says his Christian faith helps him deal with the loss.
"That's the positive side at the end of this that that this is not all there is," he said. "I will see her again."
Stanley says the bracelets mean different things for different people, but he hopes all take comfort when wearing them.
"I can tell them I understand, I know," he said. "I went through one of the worst cancers that can happen to somebody, that happened to her. I know what it's like and I've been there and I'm here."
