BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS LONG ON HOPE.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

It was a visit to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., that a decade later gave Marilyn Gayler Axelrod the idea of creating a similar tangible remembrance to women who have battled breast cancer.

Unlike the Vietnam Memorial, the women that Axelrod - who survived a 1990 mastectomy - wanted to memorialize were not the ones who died, but the women who went on to live cancer-free lives after treatment.

``The day I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I promised I'd do something for the cause,'' said the 49-year-old Davis woman. ``The result was the Wall of Hope.''

The wall - a 70-foot-long stretch of 35 laminated panels, each 2 feet wide and 6 feet, 3 inches tall - includes photos of 550 breast cancer survivors. Photos of 72 Southern California women were added in February.

The panels of portraits will be the centerpiece of a Thursday luncheon in Beverly Hills sponsored by the Women of Wellness, the support auxiliary for the West Los Angeles-based Wellness Community, which offers free counseling and support for cancer sufferers.

Bonnie Schuman, a spokeswoman for the Wellness Community, said most women diagnosed with breast cancer feel isolated and afraid, and the Wall of Hope ``gives them the sense that they're not alone, that many, many, many women have gotten through it.''

And there are many who beat the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Although 184,300 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in 1996 and an estimated 44,300 women died from it (only lung cancer causes more cancer deaths among women), nearly three times as many survived the disease.

Bolstering the spirits

Sherry Dern, 54, of Northridge and Flo Porter, 56, of Sherman Oaks are among the survivors. Photographed last month for the Wall of Hope, both said they hope to bolster the spirits of other women facing breast cancer.

Dern said she was initially hopeful when cancer was found in her right breast in September 1994, but despaired after surgery and six months of chemotherapy, when she learned that the cancer had spread to two ribs.

``I couldn't even talk about it without crying and being hysterical,'' Dern said. But talking with other cancer survivors helped her through a second mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, and her cancer is now in remission. Dern has returned to work part-time at the Van Nuys pharmacy she and her husband own, and occasionally baby-sits her four grandchildren.

``I do feel I'm a survivor,'' Dern said. ``I'm here, after everything. And the wall is a Wall of Hope. When I see the wall, I expect to see a lot of faces and names, a lot of hope for a lot of people.''

Porter said cancer was diagnosed in her right breast in March 1977; she underwent a mastectomy, then nearly two years later, her left breast was found to have cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. She underwent a second mastectomy and a year of chemotherapy.

``Twenty years ago, when I was first diagnosed, a lot of people thought cancer was a death sentence,'' said Porter, who for the past 15 years has worked part-time interviewing patients and helping with support groups at the Wellness Community. ``They always talked about how many people died, not how many survived. I thought I was going to die.''

But after reconstructive surgery and a divorce, Porter has remarried, is the mother of two, stepmother of two and grandmother of two. And she hopes her portrait on the wall will help show other women that their life after cancer can be just as joyous.

Each state should have a wall

``The wall is about not feeling passive, not feeling like a victim,'' Porter said. ``It's about hope, about women - hundreds, into the thousands of them, who are long-term survivors. And I'm one of them.''

Axelrod, who quit her marketing job at a Bay Area glamour photography firm to head the Wall of Hope corporation (its status as a nonprofit organization is pending), has spent the past 2-1/2 years traveling through California recruiting breast cancer survivors to appear in photos.

Once a photo event is organized - most are sponsored by a charity, an organization or a corporate sponsor - Axelrod brings photographers, makeup artists and hairdressers, plus glitzy jewelry and attractive clothing, to make the women look their best.

Each survivor photographed pays $29.95, with half that sum going to a cancer-fighting charity designated by the organizing group. The other half goes to pay the cost of photography, travel and preparation of new panels for the wall, Axelrod said.

Eventually, she hopes, each state will have a similar breast cancer survivor wall. ``It'd only take about 100 feet from each state to make a mile-long wall,'' Axelrod said. ``It'd be nice to be able to take it to Washington, D.C., to put on display, so people could see all the women who have survived breast cancer.''

Breast cancer survivors who want their photo on the Wall of Hope can call [phone].

To see the wall

The Wall of Hope will be on display at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, in conjunction with a luncheon talk Thursday by Dr. Susan Love, breast cancer specialist and professor of surgery at UCLA. Love will present topics covered in her new book, ``Susan Love's Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices About Menopause.''

The event runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets for the luncheon and talk, from noon to 2 p.m., cost $75, or $125 including a copy of Love's book. Luncheon reservations are required: [phone].

The Wall of Hope can be seen free from 10:30 a.m. to noon by people without luncheon reservations.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: The Wall of Hope is 70 feet long and contains the pictures of 550 women who have survived breast cancer.

Box: To see the wall (See Text)