Boy where do you begin explaining the bravery and grace and dignity of a woman who gave you birth.  This is not a story of just ovarian cancer.

It begins in 2006. Mom had a massive heart attack and stroke.  It took every inch of her little person to come back from this.  And the doctors did not give her real good odds of survival then. 10 percent of her heart worked, 25 percent of one kidney worked, the other completely dead. But she beat the odds and made it home.

Then in 2007, she ended back in the hospital with a collapsed colon. More surgery, and during this surgery they found one of her ovaries attached to the colon (30yrs previous she had an hysterectomy, but they left the ovaries).  At first the surgeon said no signs of cancer, and we were so relieved. Mom had intense pain, and had to have more surgery in recovery due to a bleeder.  So things got a bit better and she was looking forward to coming home.  And then the biopsy came back.  Diagnosis stage 3 – 4 ovarian cancer.  My God !  What ?  You would have to have known Mother to understand and appreciate her response.  It wasn’t oh poor me, it was o.k. whats the next step.  Her oncologist was upbeat but not promising a cure.  She was told he could postpone the final outcome with chemo.

So for 6 months Mom did treatment.  It wasn’t an easy road, it meant hospital stays for low blood, needing transfusions, it meant ambulance runs and a helicopter ride, for a massive seizure due to double chemo treatments, and watching our Mother reduce to a mere image in body stature to what she was.  Towards the end of treatments her blood vessels would just burst during a routine blood draw.  Mother would just smile and tell the person, “it’s ok, try again”.

In the last few months of her life she tried radiation to reduce the pain of the cancer that had spread through out her little body.  This proved to be futile, and actually put her in more pain.  She wanted to die at home, so we brought in hospice.  Mother was a young 75, I know to most this seems old but again, you had to know Mother.  She fought a long and hard battle against everything this world threw at her.

Please if anything your organization does accomplish, give women the knowledge of this terrible cancer, and tell them to make informed decisions on their medical care.  Don’t be afraid to be heard.  Momma always told us to stop and smell the roses, and to live life to it’s fullest and never take never as a answer to a cure.  Thank you for your efforts, please, please continue this fight.  And God willing there will be a cure in our lifetime.

Bless you all,
The family of Mary Jane