Tommi Simcox will be onboard the Tunica Queen Riverboat Saturday night raising money to pass on a gift of encouragement she received not long ago.

She's hoping to raise funds to start a new charity, called "Here's to a Sweet Recovery," that will send a gift of chocolate chip cookies to women who are recovering from breast cancer surgery.

On Aug. 28, 2006, Simcox found a "golf ball-sized" lump in her left breast.

She had always gone for her annual gynecologist appointment around that time in August. But because her doctor was sick, she set her appointment back until November.

In the one year between her appointments, the 30-year-old had developed an aggressive breast cancer: IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma), Grade 3.

She began chemotherapy, and after six treatments that ended in January, she received the news that her tumor had shrunk from 5 centimeters to 4 millimeters.

But she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, which meant her chance of developing cancer again was greater than for most other people.

"I decided to have everything removed, including all female organs," said Simcox, a wife and mother of one son, Tanner, 4.

On Feb. 28, she was diagnosed cancer free.

But in mid-July, she began experiencing headaches, dizziness and loss of balance.

Late last month, doctors found a tumor on her brain stem, which she will have to have removed.

But tumor or no tumor, her party for "Here's to a Sweet Recovery" is still on.

"It's more reason to celebrate and have the people who care about me rally around me at this time," said Simcox. "I have complete faith."

Her mother, Susie Cooper, said, "Our family is very aware of the damage that cancer can do." She has been in remission since 1993 from Hodgkin's disease, a cancer that starts in lymphatic tissue.

Simcox's late grandfather had three bouts with Hodgkin's disease. Her aunt battled breast cancer, and her cousin died of a brain tumor at the age of 20.

Simcox is inviting all breast cancer survivors, patients and the public to the party/fund-raiser Saturday from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for her new charity.

The idea for the charity came from the kindness of a stranger. About a week after Simcox's bilateral mastectomy and complete hysterectomy, she received a strawberry cheesecake in the mail. Attached to it was a note that said, "You are my hero. Here's to a sweet recovery."

"I was shocked by the generosity," she said. The cake was from Jessica Hubbard, who had been following Simcox's journals online at her Web site tommisimcox.com.

"The phrase wouldn't leave my head. It was cool, unique and appropriate."

While recuperating from the first stage of her reconstructive surgery, the gesture inspired Simcox to want to do the same for other women.

Cheesecakes seemed too much, but chocolate chip cookies were less expensive and something everybody liked, she thought.

The first person she called about her idea was her mom.

"It's tangible. People love the thought -- the fact that this is something that they can see, touch and taste," Simcox says.

The package of about a dozen cookies will also include a pamphlet explaining all the different breast reconstruction options available for women.

"I know from Tommi's experience that the whole process is overwhelming. It'll be hundreds and thousands of pages (of information on the Web)," said Cooper.

With all the information available, the goal of the the package is to uplift women and give more insight to the one question: "What am I going to look like after this is all over?"

Dr. Michael Berry, Simcox's oncologist, says he refers his patients to plastic surgeons prior to surgery to hear all the options available to them, but the more information a woman has to assist in an educated decision, the better.

"It is very disheartening to later find out that you had a more desirable option that you were unaware of," he said.

Berry finds that many women with a cancer diagnosis retreat into a shell and try to wait out their treatment.

"Very few will take their experience and share it with those who most desperately need the advice, information and support," he said. "Simcox is the opposite."

Cooper says her daughter has the gift of "exaltation" -- encouraging and teaching others.

Simcox works from her Hernando home for a marketing consultant with Roebuck and Simcox auto solutions. She tutors rising third-graders on Mondays and Tuesdays.

When she stood in front of her business networking group to tell them about her charity, the entire group of small business owners "jumped on board," says Debbie Disney, owner of Massage Therapy Worx in Southaven.

"It screams to exactly what we are trying to do," says Disney, whose spa, at 728 Goodman in Southaven, is one of the sponsors of the fund-raiser. The spa plans to have a "Sweet Recovery Spa Night" Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. to pamper breast cancer patients and survivors.

The Tunica Queen Riverboat will be boarding at 6:30 p.m. at the dock at Tunica RiverPark, closest to Fitzgeralds Casino.

The party/fund-raiser will have music from Simcox's high school volleyball teammate Roxanne Lemmon and her band, Roxanne Lemmon and the Mirkins. There will be a cash bar, a silent auction and goodie bags.

Simcox's goal is to raise at least $3,000 to get "Here's to a Sweet Recovery" off the ground. She is writing letters to grocery stores asking for donations of cookies for the project.

People can call or e-mail ( tgsimcox@gmail.com ) in the future to recommend recipients for the sweet care packages.

Simcox will meet Hubbard (who sent her the cheesecake months ago) for the first time at the event.

Tickets are $55. To make reservations contact Simcox at 299- 6743 or Cooper at 268-6231. Go to herestoasweetrecovery.com for more information on the event, sponsorship and donations.