Yesterday I attended the funeral of my oldest and dearest friend

[tnlefty]

and it was tough. We met at age 4 and became fast friends and the friendship lasted for 40 yrs. She was 44 and had a tough battle with breast cancer and won round one. Approx. 8 yrs. later she had a recurrence and this time the cancer was of a different type and 5 vertebra were involved. The last report that she had from her oncologist was that the bones were clear, but he missed that the cells were in her spinal fluid and already in the brain. This was discovered when she was hospitalized last Sat. She died early Fri. morning. I will miss her very much.

I made a donation to the American Cancer Society and will do so every year in June on her birthday. If anyone has any spare cash, please consider donations to the "health organizations" instead of spending a lot of money on gifts.

[Beaverhausen]

1. I'm so sorry- I have a friend fighting her second round too

And I'm very worried about her.

:hug:

[tnlefty]

11. The strange thing to me is that my mother-in-law was diagnosed

with beast cancer with lymph node involvement and given a 15% chance to survive for 5 years 20 years ago. She's had a triple bypass, a hip replacement, complications from both of those surgeries, but no recurrence of the breast cancer. My friend was diagnosed the first time and had no node involvement and for a while things looked pretty good for her this time.

Stay close to your friend and thanks for the hug. I needed it and now I think that I will have a drink.

[Metatron]

2. tnlefty, I am so very sorry for your loss.

My condolences to you. :hug:

[tnlefty]

13. Thanks for the hug.

She has 2 "older" kids, but they still needed her as neither is 21 yet. I thought that my heart was going to explode as I watched her daughter yesterday. Her son still seemed stunned.

[saracat]

15. I lost my mother when I was twenty to the same disease.

I never really recovered. My heart goes out to you and the family of your friend. Stay strong.

[tnlefty]

17. Sorry to learn that. She has a daughter who is 20 and a son who

is 17. I'm very concerned about their well-being. Their parents divorced years ago and he works and lives out of state. They have some family closeby and her Mom's friends to kinda look out for them, but this is emotionally devastating for them. I'm trying not to worry about them to the point of it being an obsession, but I'm truly concerned.

[saracat]

22. Well, at least they have one another. I was an only child with

a very dependent Dad.They are lucky to have you and whatever supportive family they have. You are a good person to be concerned. They will appreciate it in the time to come.

[Feathered Fish]

3. Sorry to hear that.

take care of yourself. :hug:

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

4. I'm very sorry to have heard of your loss. So young, too.

:grouphug:

[Bunny]

5. My condolences.

That's so sad.

[liberalnurse]

6. My heart is breaking for you ....

I feel your void. Yes, I will indeed donate in her honor.

:hug:

[AlCzervik]

7. I'm so sorry, thats really tough

i'm sure she was family to you and you to her.

[tnlefty]

14. She and an older cousin of mine are like the 2 sisters I didn't

have by birth. She and I could go for a couple of months or longer without talking, especially when she was living far away, make a phone call and pick up where we left off the last time and run up a huge phone bill catching up.

[knowbody0]

8. so very sorry tnlefty

[Cuban_Liberal]

9. I'm so sorry.

May she rest in peace, and may God comfort you and her family.

:hug:

[flamingyouth]

10. I'm so sorry for your loss

It's wonderful that you will help others in her memory. :hug:

[CornField]

12. Wow -- seems so many have passed on recently.

I'm very sorry for your loss, tnlefty, and will keep you and her family in my prayers. I lost my mother in 1991 to a form of bone cancer. I've contributed what I can each year since to the Am. Cancer Society.

[tnlefty]

16. Sorry about your mother.

My Dad was an active, relatively healthy diabetic and he died in early Aug. Played golf with his brother on a Wed.,and they always walked the course for the exercise, and he didn't get up Thursday morning. All of his siblings who lived to be adults (9) have diabetes and it wears on every part of the body.

[fluffernutter]

18. that is so sad, i'm so sorry.

we too have lost amazing people to cancer, it is so heartbreaking.

we give to ACS as well, it is for such a good cause. i hope we can get rid of this horrible disease someday.
:hug:

[childslibrarian]

19. The kids at my school raised 1,000 dollars for ACS last May

at Relay for Life. I hope we do the same this year. My thoughts and prayers are with you on your great loss.

[tnlefty]

21. Please tell the kids what a great job they did!

Amazing and that money will be put to a good use.

In TN we can have specialized license plates for giving money to different organizations. I pay a higher fee when I renew my tag each year and the difference is paid to St. Jude Children's Hospital. I think the amount of the donation from the tag is around $20, which isn't all that much, but at least I know that I did that much each year and didn't forget to respond to something that I received in the mail.

[tnlefty]

20. I helped my Mom care for my stepdad who died of lung cancer

that had metastasized to his brain and it was a gut wrenching experience. It is a cruel disease and hopefully someday we can get rid of it.