“You have cancer”… These were words I ever wanted to hear as a mother. Like most parents, as your children grow into adults you hope they do the right things in life. For women, that means keeping up with yearly pap smears is important.
I had noticed in December 2010 Natalie was more tired and did not look like her old self. I never pushed the issue about what maybe going on with her or if she needed to go to the doctor. Then I got a call on May 12, 2011 at approximately 1:00 AM from Natalie. “Mom I am at University Hospital and they are going to give me blood.” I told her I would be right there! After arriving they had completed a variety of tests including a pelvic exam and biopsy. The results came back that Natalie had stage 4 cervical cancer. At that moment my life had stopped, and I nearly fainted. I started crying uncontrollably and my dear Natalie wrapped her arms around me and told me, “It’s going to be okay mom. I WILL get through this.” We just sat there and held each other and cried.
Within a week she was in surgery and immediately started chemo and radiation. After learning she had cancer and learning what stage 4 meant, we began to fight. One night a family member texted me and told me I should read an article that had run on the nightly news. It was about a young 14 year old girl who had lost her mother to cervical cancer and was talking about hanging panties across the Purple People Bridge. Wanting to know the details of her mom to see if they were any of the same symptoms and issues Natalie was dealing with, we started to look for her on Facebook. And then I found her, Hope Jamison.
I messaged Hope and asked if she would mind to talk about it and she was very open about what she knew. I later started speaking to her grandmother and Jaymie’s mom Cheryl in hope of getting answers to what we were dealing with. We have kept in touch from that day forward. They invited us to the 1st Annual Panty Party for Panties Across the Bridge. Natalie and I attended this together. It was very touching when I met Cheryl. We made this connection as mothers with daughters with cancer that could never be broken.
Natalie attended the 1st ever Panties Across the Bridge that year and touched many lives. Natalie never let this disease get her down. She remained strong and positive no matter what her day was like. She knew she had to be strong and fight. Natalie was a mother to a 5 year old daughter, Brookln. She wanted and needed to be there for her. Even after being told there was nothing more the doctors could do and being told she had to go under the care of Hospice, she remained positive and strong. Natalie’s friend Nicole came up with an idea of her signing cards from holidays to birthdays so Brookln would always have them to cherish. As hard as it was to write to her daughter knowing she was not going to be there for her Natalie was able to write cards for several years of birthdays. These will be treasured by Brookln forever.
Natalie put up a strong fight and did everything she could to try and beat this horrible disease, but it gradually just took over her. Natalie passed away exactly 6 months to the day of her diagnoses and to almost the exact hour. She is missed deeply and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think how I wish I just had my daughter back. I can never say that I am not proud of my daughter for how hard she tried and what she had done.
The Jaymie Jamison Foundation came into our lives early into our journey and they still remain in my life. They have been there from the beginning of our journey to the end. Cheryl is unlike anyone I have ever met. She was mourning the recent loss of her own daughter when I met her, but never gave it as second thought to be there for me. This is why I am so compassionate about the Jaymie Jamison Foundation for Hope. These are a group of people who truly care and will go to many ends to help and get things done. I just want to tell them all from the bottom of my heart that they are loved and to keep on fighting for awareness for gynecological cancers.
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