New Business Helps Woman Keep Her Daughter's Memory Alive

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- After her daughter lost her battle with cancer, a Baltimore County woman is channeling her sadness into a new business, keeping her daughter's memory alive with jewelry for a good cause.

Jessica Kartalija has more.

The summer of 2012, 21-year-old Cara Becker was between semesters at Towson University when she became sick.

"She went into the hospital thinking she had appendicitis. And her blood work came back and it was obviously something else, but they didn't know what it was," said Jill Becker.

Turns out she had leukemia.

"She completed her treatment in December and a week after her treatment, she passed," Becker said.

Her parents and two brothers were stricken with grief when Cara's aunt, an artist living in Florida, brought Jill a special gift.

"She talked about how she wanted this cuff to hug me as if she were hugging me and that the eye was her watching over me and protecting me and it was so wonderful," she said.

Soon her friends started asking where they could get one and the LEMA-J cuff was born. The name stands for Love, Empowerment, Motion and Adventure. The "J" represents Jill and her sister Jenny.

"For every Karma for Cara cuff that we sell, we donate one to a leukemia patient or their family," Becker said.

Cuffs in the collection range in price, with a portion of the proceeds going to Karma for Cara, a foundation Cara started when she was at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Each handmade bracelet is made from stingray leather with a soft lambskin liner.

For a link to Karma for Cara, click here. For the LEMA-J website, click here.

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