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Family Carries On Young Woman's Desire To Help Others With Leukemia

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Turning a devastating loss into help for others. It's often a way people cope.

Alex DeMetrick reports for one mother's loss, a gift opened the door to giving.

Trapped in illness, we all depend on others for help. Cara Becker was the person in need two years ago. Battling leukemia, the young Baltimore woman required blood donations. That's when Cara started her own foundation.

"She started it because she wanted to give back. She'd been using so much blood that she wanted to start a blood drive," said Jill Becker, Cara's mother.

Cara died two years ago, but her family carried on her desire to help. It was launched with a gift from Cara's aunt in Florida, a jewelry designer. Jennifer Benscher sent her grieving sister in Baltimore a cuff.

"And she said, 'I want it to hug you the way that I would hug you.' And that the eye was her watching over me and protecting me," said Becker.

From that one gift came the jewelry line Lema J that would fund the Karma for Cara Foundation. Going store-to-store, trunk show to charity fundraiser, the cuffs are now sold across the country. All profits go to help others with leukemia.

So far, sales of the cuffs have raised $400,000 to help leukemia patients. And for those who buy them, there are other rewards.

"Some women buy them because they are beautiful and they look great on them. A lot of women, a lot of women, have tragedy in their families," Becker said. "These women, they want to talk to me. They want to tell me their stories of sadness or tragedy. And we feel like we bond and we relate."

An ornamental bridge that's helped Jill Becker deal with her loss as well.

The money raised from the cuffs has been used to buy leukemia patients iPads to better track their own treatments, as well as grants to schools to establish community service projects.

To learn more about Lema J handmade cuffs, click here.

To support the Karma for Cara Foundation, click here.

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