Team Purple Firefox

Support Maria's Fight Against Pancreatic Cancer

Update

Amazing Grace Indeed

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Today at Mass, I went by myself, and we sang Amazing Grace.

That is not a song we sing too often.

I know yesterday I posted on here that the biggest thing I was praying for was Grace.

You might think that is a coincidence, but I know better.

Last Sunday at Mass, I was with my mom, and a woman came up to us before Mass to say hi. It was a friend of my mom’s from the hospital, from my mom’s work before mom retired. This person, a nurse, told me like 3x that I have the most amazing mother. My mom told me that this person now works at a different, but local, hospital, and runs the PCU department, and is one of the best nurses she has ever known. So then when mom went to the ER last week, it was at this other hospital, and this person rushed down and took extra care of my mom for the few days she was there, and texted my sisters directly with all kinds of updates and information, and made sure my mom’s chart was being handled correctly, and provided us with such care and relief and peace of mind, I can’t even tell you.

Why did she appear *last Sunday* in Church (mom and I go to same Mass every Sunday, for the last few years, and we’ve never met her there before)?

You might think that is a coincidence, but I know better.

I know there is a plan, I know I may not like it, but I know I am not alone, and no matter what, it will be OK.

Home, But Different

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Mom is coming home today!

Long road ahead. A lot of risks but the odds are with us.

I am very grateful for of the kinds words, comments, and actions yesterday. They were a salve on the stress and anxiety.

Continued prayers, thoughts… however you connect, if you are willing to bring our family into it, I would appreciate it.

Personally, I am praying for the Grace for all of us to accept whatever is coming and to be able to meet the challenges ahead and walk the path with Love and Faith and trust that there is a plan, even if I don’t understand it or think it is fair.

Today, Mom comes back home, though I don’t think it will feel the same.

I don’t think anything can be the same again.

My Mom is Very Sick

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My mom is very sick.

Yesterday we had to rush her to the hospital.

Today we found out why.

She has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She has a “locally advanced, stage 1 tumor of mild severity”. She is going to start chemo in the next couple of days, and then is considering and leaning toward a very complex surgery (called a Whipple procedure) to give her the best possible prognosis.

It is very risky, but the alternative is, well, the worst possible alternative.

If you know my mom, you know she is next level. I could write so much but it feels like a eulogy.

I can say that there has never been one single day, in my entire life, ever, that she has made me sad, and I know few people can claim such a thing. She spent 40 years as a nurse, after finishing first in her class in nursing school while me and my sisters were children, and worked most of those years in ICU, and her last half dozen or so as the Director of Infection Prevention at our local neighborhood hospital, where she herded everyone through the first year + of COVID before retiring.

I could write pages about what an extraordinary person she is, and if you know her, you know.Mom is the matriarch of our family, and the center of our universe, and my whole fam is completely shook.

Personally, I am a momma’s boy, and am not doing very well, but our fam is big and great and swarming and will be OK. My niece put together this GoFundMe, which if you feel called to support, will go toward whatever her soon to be massive medical costs will be: https://gofund.me/ab7a36cf

Again, thanks to all who reached out and made contact with all of your concern. Love you all, and love the love you shared with me today.

I felt it all, believe me.