You see, my cousin Terri was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer in November of last year. My family and some family friends are banding together to organize a benefit to help her financially deal with the weight of this diagnosis. Alone the diagnosis is heartbreaking enough, but looking at the past few years of Terri's life, the unbelievableness of this whole thing is just beyond words (clearly as I have to resort to making them up.) Here is an excerpt from the press release our committee has put together:
"In December 2009, Terri Luanna DaSilva, her husband Heron, and their then 6-month old daughter Marisa, put their lives on hold and moved from New York City to Vancouver, Canada in order to care for Terri’s mother, Jeanne Robinson, who was battling late stage bile duct cancer. Terri and her family lovingly supported her Mom, and baby Marisa was the light of her grandmother’s life, bringing countless moments of joy into a life ravaged by cancer.
In the aftermath of Terri’s mother’s death in May 2010, Terri and her family moved to Dartmouth, MA to be with Jeanne’s family while her husband searched for employment. Finally, in July 2011, Heron landed an electrical engineering job at Honda in Ohio where they eagerly embraced their new life.
Now, a short 5 months after leaving Dartmouth, Terri is faced with her own cancer battle in a new state where she has yet to develop a support network. The goal of this committee is to raise funds to assist Terri and her family with mounting medical bills, transportation, travel and child care costs, accessing home supports, and providing her with the most cutting edge treatment available."
So. My "big sister" (we always used to tell people we were sisters as she never had any siblings) is literally fighting the battle of her life. For her life. I am asking if any of you would like to help support Terri. Also, if you have a blog, if you'd be willing to feature her and her struggle in the hopes that more help and positive thoughts can be sent her way.
To make that easier, Terri began a blog to follow her experience kicking cancer's ass. It's ridiculously inspirational. She has to most amazing attitude despite what she faces. Please visit her blog, comment encouragingly, support her in this struggle, and spread the word of her struggle so that we can all help in her battle.
Her blog: gracefulwomanwarrior.com
We've also created a page where you can go to get more information about the benefit we're hosting to help Terri, Heron and little Marisa. All the information you may need to help in any way you can is located here: gracefulwomanwarrior.org
As a parting gift here are some great pics of Terri and I from recently:
Surprise!! Celebrating Terri's 37th birthday back in NYC (she didn't know I was coming!):
Surprise #2- Nicole (Terri's BFF from high school) came down from Toronto to surprise Terri on the streets of NYC!!:
(I still tear up when I look at these)
Out celebrating that night at Cafe Wha in NYC:
We're going back a few years here. Terri and I attended New Kids on the Block on their first reunion tour and had THE MOST FUN EVER. We went together to see New Kids when I was little, maybe 7 or 8 years old back in the late 80s/early 90s so of course we were going when they got back together after 15 years!
(baby Marisa was in Terri's belly- her first concert!)
(Let's equate the fact that I look like I just ran a 5k in this pic with the amount of fun I was having. And maybe the amount of wine I consumed. Maybe.)
And here we have a crappy iPhone photo from last May when Marisa turned two, and Terri, Heron, Marisa and Nicole came to visit Massachusetts. This is Nicole, Terri, myself, and my sister Erin out and about:
So that's it for now folks. Please see Terri's blog for updates on her, check out the committee's website for information on how to help. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Thank you so much in advance. She's going to beat it, there's no other choice.
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