One year ago on September 21, 2011 we received final confirmation that my mother did in fact have stage four adenocarcinoma with a 9cm mass in her left lung. It seems almost surreal how one word can turn your entire world upside down, but it did. CANCER took the greatest person I have ever known and the best friend I will ever have. She was so much more then my mother and even though I can't call her when I need parenting advice or get a hug when I have a bad day, she is forever with me. I find as I grow older that children always need their parents and parents always need their children, those needs may grow and change as the people do, but they never go away. Even in death her presence is an everyday part of my life. I hear her encouragement when I doubt myself, I feel her strength when I don't feel I have of my own left, and I know her love as a mother everytime I look at my own child. Motherhood is not just lifelong- it is eternal and never ending just like her memory. Pam's Pearls is about doing what I can to be greatful for the life I still have and to honor the life that was taken from me. To know that lung cancer took the greatest part of who I am and left no cure or hope for those still suffering makes everything that North Carolina Lung Partnership and Free to Breathe so much more important. Lung Cancer does not receive the federal funding that others like Breast Cancer do, it does not receive the publicity of the rich and famous or the empathy of many. It is instead filled with stigmas and preconceived notions that if you have lung cancer you somehow deserve it for ever lighting your first cigarette, yet we all have lungs and less then 50% of those with lung cancer have ever so much as held a pack of cigarettes in their hand. Why is it that pink ribbons adorn the sponsorship pages of corporations and community groups like ornaments on a christmas tree, and people stare at my white ribbon like its a foreign object. Lung Cancer IS just as deserving of public recognition and sponsorship as any other cancer or horrific disease, it is just as deserving of sponsorship and financial aid as Breast Cancer, it deserves to have a run for a cure and the federal backing to support all the small efforts of myself and so many others who have been left to fight the battle of their lost loved ones without the necessary tools that the #1 cancer killer should have. Cancer doesn't just take the person whose body it inhabits, it takes a part of every person involved, and when that person leaves this earth those pieces leave to, and those affected are forever changed. It is almost inconceivable that such a small piece of science... a cell... ONE SINGLE CELL... can grow to change so much. However, I am learning that in this fight to raise awareness of lung cancer and further treatments to one day have a cure, I AM ONE SINGLE CELL, each person in this fight is JUST ONE SINGLE CELL, but just as cancer does we can join together, and like cancer we will learn to manifest, and like the loved ones we lose everyday WE WILL BECOME UNFORGETTABLE. Cancer may have taken my mother, but it cannot take my will or my faith or my love for her, those are never ending. Life may go on, but my purpose will always be greater because until there is a cure THE BATTLE GOES ON. So for my mother and every other victim of cancer may God be with you and your families each day as they face life without you and for every person who has ever lost someone to cancer know that God is keeping your loved one safe and cared for until you can join them again. There is so much we have to learn about cancer and unfortunately some of the worst findings we already know... CANCER SUCKS and nothing about it is easy, but know that God is always with us, guiding us and reminding us to keep the faith, keep walking and JUST BREATHE!
Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us reach the fundraising milestones that we have. We clapped our hands at $150, jumped around at $500, and now at $955 are just overjoyed and smiling ear to ear as we thank God for the blessing he has bestowed upon our team and most importantly Free to Breathe. Know that each and every dollar of your donation goes to fight and fund a cause that receives little help elsewhere and that these grassroots efforts we are starting will someday be the change that finds a cure. Words could never truly express what your support means to me personally, but each and every dollar donated on the way to our $5,000 goal is like a star being lit in the sky and a bit of hope being placed in the hands of a lung cancer patient and that in itself is worth every bit of effort I put into what I do. I could never say it enough times but I'll say it once more anyway... THANK YOU!
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