My Mom

On January 12th we celebrated my Mom's life. We had a small celebration with family and close friends. We had her favorite food from our family's favorite Mexican restaurant, lots of drinks and even a box of wine in the refrigerator. The day went well and I believe we did a good job honoring my Mom. I know she was looking down on us smiling. 

I hate public speaking, but knew that I had to say something about my Mom, her journey and what she meant to me. I would like to think she was listening when I gave my speech...

When I think back to my childhood I picture my Mom cooking, cleaning, playing with us, driving us to swim practice, helping in the classroom, helping us with homework and the list goes on and on. Day in and day out she was doing for others. There wasn't much she did for herself. She put her all into her family and I truly believe she loved what she did every day. Our house ran like a well oiled machine, a machine that ran on the love she poured into her family.

I had always admired my Mom for all she did for our family, but that admiration grew so much in these last 3 ½ years.

Dad and I were with her the day she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and I remember looking over at her with tears streaming down my face and she was looking directly at Dr. Yamamoto and said to him ok what do we do to get rid of it. She wasn’t crying, she was ready to fight the cancer and do all it took to do so. She did do whatever it took to fight the cancer. The journey began with a huge surgery, recovery, chemo and then radiation. She handled it all so well. She continued to work in-between her chemotherapy treatments. She continued to work while getting radiation. She would get radiation in the morning and then go to work for 6-8 hours.  She was unstoppable; she wasn’t going to let the cancer take over her life. She was the one controlling her life, not the cancer.  She didn’t let having cancer stop her from playing tennis, a sport that she loved. After about a 4 month remission period the cancer popped up in her liver and she started another series of rounds of chemo.  Again, she continued to work and live her life to the fullest. A few months after she started chemo and was considering surgery to remove the tumor in her liver the cancer had spread to a lymphnode on her neck.  Surgery was no longer an option because the cancer had spread.  She started her third series of rounds of chemo.  This time chemo was once a week for three weeks and then a week off. She was on this schedule for over a year and did so well on it. The chemo held the cancer at bay for a long time. Then in August, the tumor in the liver ruptured a blood vessel and she was in the hospital for a week.  She never completely recovered from this, even though she tried her hardest to get better and stronger. In September, she started chemo again. She wasn’t giving up, she was continuing to fight, fight to stay with us another day. She fought so hard for so long and I thank for her that. I thank her for fighting to stay with us for 3 ½ years after her diagnosis. I think we all made the best of those years. I know there were days when she was tired, in pain and just wanted to quit, but she didn’t.  She didn’t stop fighting because she loved us so much.

I am so lucky that I was able to sit next to her during her chemo treatments. That is time I will cherish forever.  She rarely complained when they tried to find a vein time and time again. She was so strong and just smiled and said I’m fine. She endured so much during chemotherapy and I was always in complete awe of how strong she was and proud to be her daughter.

I feel so lucky to call her my Mom. She did all she could to stay with us one more day. I am so happy that she fought to stay with us long enough to meet and hold Terra. I will miss her every day of my life. I hope that I can be as strong for my children and family as she was for us. I love you Mom!