2018 Paint paper pink

2018 Paint the Paper Pink Lincoln Daily News October 2018 Page 47 the bothers to put the call on speaker phone so she only had to say it once. When she told them she had cancer, there was a silence. Then one brother blurted out, “So are you going to be bald?” When Wendy said no probably not, his response was “good, then we don’t have to shave our heads!” While some moments were funny, not all were. Wendy recalled that in 2014 she was 55 years old. Her mother-in-law, Terry’s mom, had breast cancer and had died at the age of 55. That fact shook Wendy and Terry both. While Wendy said she never for a moment thought she would die, the fact that she was the same age as Terry’s mom and fighting cancer was a little unnerving. Terry’s mother died in 1986. Terry and Wendy had been married in December of 1985. Wendy said while she had known Terry’s mom before they were married, she felt that she had very little time with the woman as a mother-in-law, and that hurt. She said she felt she did not get the opportunity to learn from her mother-in-law how to be a good mother-in-law herself. During her journey, Wendy turned to social media to express some of the things she was feeling. Most of her posts were upbeat and positive. But on one particular day she wrote, “Down to my last seven days. I’m switched to a regular pillow and lay on my side so they can target the incision area. I walk in and Elton John’s “Rocket Man” is playing. I bit my lip until the therapists left the area and then the tears started to roll.” “On January 28th, 1986 the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded as it lifted into space. Gripped in mourning the tragedy, the radio stations made Rocket Man the anthem. While the nation watched around the clock television footage of the disaster and said farewell to the astronauts, our family was saying goodbye to my mother-in-law Eula as she succumbed to breast cancer… She missed the birth of our two sons and her three great-grandchildren. She missed countless birthdays, holidays, school activities, graduations and her granddaughter’s wedding. She missed watching Terry portray Santa Claus, and most important of all she missed the million small day-to-day memories that would have been made. “The irony is not lost on me that five days short of 29 years later, I will finish my radiation at the same age as she passed away.” Wendy said to this day, she won’t listen to that song, it is too painful. Terry said that part of the reason is that he knows his mom waited too long to be seen and treated. He said that when she was gone he felt anger that she had neglected her own health, which is why he and Wendy both are huge advocates of early detection. In January, Wendy will be a five-year survivor. Since her cancer, she said that yes, perhaps she has changed a bit. She recalls days when she felt a little sorry for herself and what she was experiencing at the doctor’s office. Then, she would walk out into the room where they had a collection of hats and turbans for chemo patients. And she would tell herself to buck up, because there were others who were going through much tougher times than she was. CONTINUE ...