Thursday, January 1, 2009
My Aunt
We have been notified that several of our Mississippi Melon team members have been chosen to carry flags in the opening and closing ceremonies at the San Francisic 3 Day Walk. I have been chosen to carry the "My Aunt" flag - other flags are 'my mother', 'my friend', etc. My sister-in-law, Kendra, our team captain, asked each of us to write a few lines about what carrying our flag means to us. Fortunatly, I have not had an aunt fight breast cancer - my mother, yes, but not my aunts. Then I started thinking - I AM THE AUNT!!! No, thank God, I do not have breast cancer and hope I never will. But I AM the beloved Aunt KK to Triple, Megan, Erin, Caitlyn, Claire, Kameron, Britton and little Gus - Simpsons, all, and they LOVE their Aunt KK. I never want them to go through the heartbreak of being told their aunt has breast cancer. Or their sister, or their friend, or their cousin. Each of them has already lost their precious grandmother, Mimi, to breast cancer. Nobody else, please, God, nobody else. So when I carry the "My Aunt" flag, I will be thinking of them and walking so that none of them - or anyone else - faces that ever again.
Kathleen Young
Kathleen Young
My Mother
If you could not see that my mother has no breasts or hair....You would not know that she is battling EVIL breast cancer! I've never seen her shed a tear since her diagnosis...not one...not through chemo, surgery, radiation, more chemo and not even the news, "It has spread to your lung"! I'm sure she has cried, but not in our presence. Family is, was and always will be her reason for living!!
She has always been my rock, my support system, through thick and thin. I always knew that my mother's faith and trust in God is what made her the woman she is. Even when my mom has been at her weakest point of sickness, she has managed to keep her heart full of love and her head held high.
I knew that it was going to be a difficult task to overcome. I thought that my mother's life was going to go crashing down, but my mom persevered. Without one complaint, she went through every treatment with hope and grace.
Even though she was diagnosed with this terrible disease, my mother found the positive side of the situation. It strengthened her relationship with her family and with God. There is no other person I would like to mold my life around. No matter how old I get I will always remember the concern for, not herself, but her children, that my mother showed when she told us the news. This is what I respect the most about her. She puts others before herself even in her darkest hour
My mom is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. I just thank God everyday that she can be here with me, in my life. She may look different on the outside, but she is still a caring, strong, beautiful woman on the inside. They tell us not to judge a book by its cover and she is a perfect example of that. Despite what setbacks life may throw at her, she takes it with the upper hand and challenges it. She will not let this get the best of her. It's amazing that such a horrible thing can bring out the best in you. I love my Mom and will always respect her for being the amazing woman she is.
She is and always will be my truest hero.
Marianne Parsons
She has always been my rock, my support system, through thick and thin. I always knew that my mother's faith and trust in God is what made her the woman she is. Even when my mom has been at her weakest point of sickness, she has managed to keep her heart full of love and her head held high.
I knew that it was going to be a difficult task to overcome. I thought that my mother's life was going to go crashing down, but my mom persevered. Without one complaint, she went through every treatment with hope and grace.
Even though she was diagnosed with this terrible disease, my mother found the positive side of the situation. It strengthened her relationship with her family and with God. There is no other person I would like to mold my life around. No matter how old I get I will always remember the concern for, not herself, but her children, that my mother showed when she told us the news. This is what I respect the most about her. She puts others before herself even in her darkest hour
My mom is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. I just thank God everyday that she can be here with me, in my life. She may look different on the outside, but she is still a caring, strong, beautiful woman on the inside. They tell us not to judge a book by its cover and she is a perfect example of that. Despite what setbacks life may throw at her, she takes it with the upper hand and challenges it. She will not let this get the best of her. It's amazing that such a horrible thing can bring out the best in you. I love my Mom and will always respect her for being the amazing woman she is.
She is and always will be my truest hero.
Marianne Parsons
Survivor
When your a 27 years old ,married with a 2-year old and 4 1/2 months pregnant, life is full of so many possibilities. You don't worry about cancer and really don't worry about breast cancer since you are the youngest of four girls and have absolutely no history of cancer or breast cancer! My world was shaken to the core when I got the phone call on a Monday night at 9:03 p.m. from my doctor that wanted to come to my house to tell me in face to face that my biopsy came back and I had breast cancer. Its is amazing how fast a person's life can totally change in a matter of minutes. The "phone call" telling me I had breast cancer and would have to have a mastectomy asap was like listening to a dream. I immediately spun into a fog, wondering who was going to raise my two year old son(that was the apple of my eye) and what was going to happen to the child I was caring. God made it possible for me to get into the top oncology surgeon and the most wonderful oncologist the next day(which is unheard of)to go over my case. I was the one that they all shook their heads at in disbelief. I not only had been diagnosed at such a young age with a tumor in my breast but I was in my second trimester. After much review and consideration, five days before Christmas I checked in the the hospital at 5 a.m. on a Tuesday morning to have a radical mastectomy on my left breast. I was sent home two days later and I was terrified! A survivor named Molly Meisenhamer(this is the most wonderful lady that is the survivor that got Race for the Cure brought to Memphis)called me and was such a wonderful ray of hope! She is just one of the wonderful people that I have been so blessed to get to know because I had breast cancer. At that point in my life the more survivors I met the stronger I got. I want to be one of those strong people that will give someone hope to fight to live and know what a blessing we all are. I did end up loosing my beautiful baby. I was given chemo for 7 months(which was such a journey). I was told that even though my tumor was not estrogen positive I would not be able to have another baby since the chemo just kills your eggs. I am so humbled to tell everyone how blessed I am. My two year old baby is now a 6'3 a wonderful 17 year old and I DID have another baby. Her name is Madison and she is 11 and so full of life! I walk because I CAN! I walk because if I can just give that one person hope it is all worth it! I walk for my sisters and my mom who questioned why did the baby(me) get this disease! I walk because God has given me everything and then some!!!!God is good all the time! Lets rock in San Francisco Melons!
Paula Gartrell
Paula Gartrell
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)