Livestream Party!
Join us today at 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET | Details Here.
×

Cheers

Give a Cheer
Give cheer Give a Cheer
Favorite

For my dd's album, about my mother and aunt. There's such a contrast between the photos, it's hard to get a good picture of the LO. B&W photo is an experiment - laser printed on vellum. Journaling reads: *

Know that you come from a line of very strong women.*

Both Mamaw Sandy and Aunt Rita were diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring of 1995. Aunt Rita also had uterine cancer diagnosed that fall.*

Mamaw was undergoing chemotherapy at the same time that she was planning Aunt Amy's wedding and organizing Uncle Rusty's high school graduation. She even made sure to come to your kindergarten graduation.*

She continued her work with EF exchange students. She continued teaching. She & Papaw traveled - a lot. She finally got to see the Northeastern US in the fall - something she had always wanted.
*

As hard as she fought, the cancer kept returning. The chemo also caused problems, leading to congestive heart failure. In November 1998, Mamaw Sandy was told that she had six months left to live. She not only held on long enough to see your twin cousins born in June 1999, she lsted until December of that year - 13 months, or more than twice as long as the doctors predicted, because she wanted to see all three of her grandkids grow as much as possible. *
Mamaw Sandy & Aunt Rita met their illness head-on with humor. I remember them teasing about taking their show on the road, talking about how they shared everything as sisters - even their fake boob if one of theirs would ever pop. (You had to know them - especially Aunt Rita.)*

Aunt Rita won her fight with cancer. It was a different kind and called for a different treatment. After being involved in the local Relay for Life in Loogootee, when her family moved to Wyoming, she took her experience and her love for her sister and turned it into a career with the American Cancer Society. As of now (Summer 2007), she is a regional director in Wyoming organizing Relay for Life Events. She also has started a new event - Climb to Conquer Cancer - and this summer she has put together a team called "Sandy's Soldiers" for the Climb.*


Report
SavedRemovedChanged