Whenever Vicci Recckio encountered a friend or confidante, her first question was always, “How are you?” She was someone who could make the person she was talking to feel like the center of the universe.  Even though she often had the most pressing news or concerns – when she was dying of cancer, for example – she was an “enough about me, how about you?” type of person.

Vicci Recckio was a special part of the Benson-Henry Institute family; she joined an 8-week BHI Mind Body Program for Cancer group in fall 2013, when she was first diagnosed with colon cancer.  From the outset, she bonded with the six other women in her group to form they dubbed the “the Benson Babes,” a tight-knit coterie that shared triumphs and tragedies as well as a recycled wool coat that became a sort of talisman to be passed back and forth depending on the severity of the members’ illnesses.

“We learned that we have no control over what happens to anybody else, and you have to figure out what is really important to you and look at life like that,” said Cynthia Thomas, a member of the group.

Vicci embraced the BHI philosophy; she found ways to relax her mind and body and to live for what truly mattered – the people she loved.  She fought valiantly against the cancer and at times seemed to triumph, but died shortly after her 50^th birthday in September.

Yet it is the connections she made and the vision she had that remain, and many of her friends and family have taken up her mantle.

Vicci had always wanted to own her own business, and she found inspiration in her cancer treatments: she hated the utilitarian chemo bag she was forced to lug around with her for 46-hour periods.  It was drab and depressing.  So she designed a functional and funky bag for the chemo patient on the go – and this year, she launched cosmedicdesigns.com, the online store that sells her customizable shoulder bag.

As she grew sicker, Vicci was determined to see her dream to fruition.  She managed her own marketing campaign, chose the photos and web designs, and gathered testimonials.  She lived to see the business launched; and she was proud to have accomplished her goal and to have helped others who would tread the same road.

“She was not militant, not the person who always wanted to speak out, she was a person who want to act,” said her friend, Cécile Garcin.  “Everyone who knew her, before she was diagnosed and after, could just see from her how life can positive if you take it in a positive way.  Her life was full of joy, hope and love.”

As her friends and family came to terms with having lost the charming, witty and elegant Vicci, they could not let her dream go with her.  On November 1^st, Cecile and her husband, Fred Chereau, ran the New York Marathon, an achievement for any athlete.  On their chests they wore their numbers, on their backs a picture of Vicci and a message thanking their supporters for donating $10,500 to the Benson-Henry Institute in her memory.

“I said I would do my best, and this would be a legacy for her,” Cécile said.  The race “was hard on my body and very often I was like, ‘Vicci can you help me?’ and I could see her face smiling.  She was with me, I’m sure.”

Vicci’s sister, Donna Recckio, has felt a similar need.

“I felt a strong desire to move forward with Cosmedic Designs, to carry on her legacy,” she says.  “She has touched so many people all over the world – from here to Hong Kong – people call and email and have said the most beautiful things about my sister.  It means so much to know that she touched so many lives.”

The first shipment of Benson Bags sold out within weeks this fall; Donna Reckio is working with the Massachusetts-based artisans who make each special component of the bags to offer a new line of products in early 2016.  She’s taking orders now, and hoping that her sister’s sense of style will bring some small comfort to cancer patients.  Cecile’s marathon efforts will be used to grow mind body programs for cancer patients and others at BHI.

“This is what she would have wanted,” her friend Cécile says, “The story is not over, it hasn’t ended yet.  Her legacy lives on with others.”

To learn more about Cosmedic Designs and The Benson Bag, click here.

For a link to the Boston Globe Magazine story about “The Benson Babes” and their shared coat, click here.