The Tutu Project was born because Bob Carey wanted to make his wife smile even as she battled cancer.
Bob Carey is a photographer who began taking self-portraits while wearing a big pink tutu after his wife, Linda Carey, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Linda Carey beat the breast cancer only to receive bad news again. The cancer spread to her liver three years later and was called incurable, the couple said in a 2012 interview with TODAY. They have been married for more than 25 years.
Always wearing the absurd pink tutu, Bob Carey posed in snowy weather, traveled to Italy and kept finding creative ways to make his wife and her friends laugh even while they waited for cancer treatments, according to BuzzFeed.
"When Linda would go in for treatment, she would take the images on her phone and the women would look at them and it would make them laugh and make the time pass," he said.
The photos went viral last year, launching the Careys' work in raising money to help others battling cancer.
The couple has partnered with German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom for a video that tells their story and launches a commercial and print campaign in Germany.
They have also self-published a book of photos titled "Ballerina," a collection of the tutu images whose proceeds go to The Carey Foundation.
The couple's nonprofit organization raises money for cancer treatment-related costs, supporting organizations that provide medical supplies, transportation to treatment and child care, the L.A. Times reported.
"Her cancer has taught us that life is good, dealing with it can be hard, and sometimes the very best thing--no, the only thing--we can do to face another day is to laugh at ourselves, and share a laugh with others," Bob Carey said.
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