"Don't sweat the small stuff" is the advice many tout to help alleviate stress. If you've ever been told this it usually comes with the codicil: "And everything is the small stuff".

But for local women, Marty Davis' attention to small stuff can be comforting (although I think she'd agree you still shouldn't, as the advice goes, "sweat it").

Marty won a battle with breast cancer two years ago. She fought the illness at the same time as Christine Pawleski, her best friend from childhood. In October 2006 the two women celebrated the end of their radiation treatments with their husbands.

They'd made an interesting discovery along the way. Christine was from a large Polish family which, according to Marty, always gave little gifts. "It was a tradition in their family that they always gave these little tchotchkes (pronounced chotch (rhymes with touch) keys)," she said.

The word is Polish for 'little nothing'.

Christine and her husband were living in New York when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her family was in Chicago and unable to be with her through several weeks of radiation treatment. Phone calls and flowers were ways to show love and support, but additionally, her family got together and made her a package of 30 tchotchkes – one for each day of her radiation treatment.

They were 30 little individually wrapped gifts with details on when to open each.

"To say that I looked forward to unwrapping these treasures is an understatement," Christine said in an article in 'Caring Today', an American magazine which provides practical advice to caregivers. "I admittedly was a little disappointed that there were no treatments on the weekends and holidays, because it meant my remaining gifts stayed unopened that much longer."

The 'little nothings' were small things that had meaning to her and that showed just how well her family knew her – they knew what would touch her, what would make her laugh. Among the gifts were a 'Best of Barry Manilow' CD, a bobblehead doll and candles. Each gift also had a note that proved comforting, empowering or motivational.

One gift she opened had a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: "A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water". With it came two herbal tea bags.

Recognising how uplifting receiving the daily gifts made her feel, Christine began sharing her experience with her good friend Marty. In fact Christine enjoyed one of her CDs so much, that she made a tchotchke of it for Marty.

"The Olivia Newton-John CD was so comforting for me," said Marty. "I played it a lot. It had such inspirational messages, it was so spiritual. I still play it," she said.

So noticeable was the effect of the gifts on Christine's outlook that her oncologist at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York insisted she develop the idea to benefit others going through trying times.

In Bermuda, Marty and her husband delMonte Davis were keen supporters of the idea. They also encouraged their friend to share her family tradition with others.

Such was the birth of Friends Are Near (FAN) an online gift company that sees little tchotchkes packages specially created and delivered to the sick, those facing challenges and even those celebrating an achievement.

Marty said she ordered a package for a Bermudian woman who went for radiation treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System earlier this year.

She said the gifts took the woman completely by surprise. "She had travelled for this treatment on her own and she later told me the daily gifts boosted her spirits and took away her loneliness," Marty said.

She added that she found the tchotchke gift package especially helpful in showing support in really difficult circumstances.

"We have a friend who is dying of cancer," she said. "How do you show support in a case like this? What can be said in card? This weekend we're going to choose a FAN package for her."

Run, and solely operated by Christine and her family, Friends Are Near is a not for profit company. Christine's 83-year-old mother is at the heart of the company. She tries to personalise the gift packages based on information received in each order. Favourite colours, authors and other details are taken into consideration so that all packages carry the loving energy of the family.

"She loves to shop and knows where to go to get all sorts of little gifts and off-beat things," said Marty.

Christine said her mother was amazed to learn that an article on their company would run in 'far away Bermuda'. She said: "We all continue to believe that this is something that we are supposed to do."

For more information on Friends are Near visit www.friendsarenear.com, or telephone 847-803-8551.