I have been a part of the Cancer Support community for several years. In March of 2020, at the same time the world was shutting down due to Covid, my hero and very best friend, my mom, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was Stage IV and had spread to her liver and lungs.
My mom is and forever will be my entire world. Ask anyone who knew her, she was the most vibrant, happy, hard-working woman you could ever meet. She was also “healthy” (or so we thought) and very active in the community, with her friends, family, church, and she LOVED her Zumba. She especially loved my sister and I, and the Allentown St. Patrick’s Day parade. I could talk to you forever about my mommy. Sadly, this journey isn’t easy. My mom fought her ass off. She lost her battle on January 31, 2023. I did everything I could for her, and I believe she knew that. I will never be the same without her.
As strong and as optimistic as my mom was, she was scared. She went to get her port in, alone. First chemo and many of the treatments, alone. My sister and I went to stand in the window for the first and several because I needed to be as close to her as possible. She/we did not have the support that most would have, as it was already a very scary time for everyone with the pandemic.
In 2021, we came to the butterfly release, and she approached the Cancer Community Support table and was greeted by the friendly smiles that many of you might know. I specifically remember Nancy. Mom started to cry. I knew she felt all the love from me, our fam and friends and we were the best support we could be, but we did not have the experience or resources she needed. From this day and introduction to the community, she started attending monthly Pancreatic support meetings, and I joined her for most, if not all those support meetings. I still do attend most of them. Thank you to Jen and the members who continue to welcome me. Once we started attending pancreatic support meetings, I learned more about the caregiver support meetings, which I also started attending. We were battling, but we were strong, and we fought together.
In the Fall of 2022, I was diagnosed with stage 1A Breast cancer. With that, I also started to attend breast cancer support meetings.
This organization has offered such support, guidance, encouragement, and hope. I am appreciative of all these people. I am grateful for the care received by both my mother and I, the support I have received in the groups and individually from Mary. I must also thank Mary for introducing me to someone else (my new friend, Jen) who is also a breast cancer survivor and recently lost her mother as well.
I feel very honored that I was asked to speak here today to share a small glimpse of my story. Thank you, Cancer Support Community of the Greater Lehigh Valley for all that you do.
