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Spreading Hope in the World, One Dress at a Time

September 04, 2018

By making dresses to donate to girls on another continent, Betsy Humiston is paying it forward, despite her own fight for life since she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer nearly five years ago.

“When I’m making these dresses I think about these little girls in Africa and how I just feel that every little girl deserves a pretty little dress,” she said.

The dresses are a true labor of love for Betsy. Each one is hand-made, tied, pressed and folded to her high standards. Her handiwork is then donated to “Little Dresses for Africa,” a national charity providing relief to vulnerable children. It’s an organization that goes beyond dresses by making inroads in communities to improve educational opportunities and assure the availability of clean water.

The efforts of this Thomaston woman are demonstrative of Betsy’s positivity in the face of her health struggles, according to her oncologist, Dr. Jonathan Cosin, chief of gynecologic oncology for the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at The Hospital of Central Connecticut.

“No matter what comes at her she works to overcome it and she’s just an amazingly caring person,” said Dr. Cosin.

Today, Betsy is cancer-free. With her health on her side, Betsy is stronger than ever, and her goal is to make hundreds of dresses – one for each day she was sick – to help spread hope throughout the world.

“I’ve made this a lifetime mission I’m not going to stop,” she said.

Learn more about the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute here.