My sister Mary was the strongest person I could ever have known.  When she first called me to say she had been diagnosed with cancer, she told me it was stage 4, and she wasn’t going to be around much longer.  I couldn’t believe it. She was never sick. She was a nurse. How could this happen?

She had a procedure done at Dana Faber in Boston and found out they couldn’t do anything more. She became a little withdrawn and wouldn’t socialize much. Not a happy person and there was little we could do to help her. What do you say or do? We were adjusting to this also.  She found out through someone about a program called the LIVESTRONG for cancer survivors at the YMCA in CT.  She was surprised to find out that she could join for free. Her attitude was well, I will try it and check it out.  BEST MOVE EVER…

My sister joined and found out she liked the program and made many friends. She began going every few days and as time passed, she went every day and sometimes twice a day.  She would call and tell me about all she did that day and how tomorrow she had a yoga class after her workouts and the hot tub after was just the best.

She found out that her care givers could also join as her support team. My sister Laurie and I did join.  We worked alongside her and we helped her but more than that she helped us in a way she could have never known possible. She brought us closer together and gave us hope that just maybe she would survive and be with us longer. To my surprise, I saw a different person. She became stronger and had a glow about her.  She was a person we came to admire and look up to. If only I could be like her.

We saw her do things like weights, the exercise bikes, stairs, the tread mill and water aerobics.  After the workouts, she had a peace about her. She would go home and sleep a few hours as it would also wear her out.

When she had her chemo treatments, she would rave about the program. On days when she felt too sick to get out of bed, she remembered that she had the LIVESTRONG support team behind her and that made a difference to either roll over and go to sleep or get up and fight. She chose to get up and fight. There were days when I said I just don’t feel like going to the gym, Mary would say, but I need you, and so I went.

Everywhere we went she would promote the LIVESTRONG program. She even got flyers to pass out. This was now her life and she loved it. She would always praise Cindy and say how much she helped her.  The last few weeks that she was in the hospital, all she talked about was doing the LIVESTRONG Relay Walk for Life. This was her goal. She would say, I am a survivor and I want to do my walk. The doctor and nurses knew how much this meant to her, so they discharged her to do the walk. It was a rainy cold day but the smile on my sister said everything. She made it! 

Sadly, my sister didn’t survive but wanted us to let Cindy know that the program was her reason to strive to live longer. I can only praise the program and hope it will make a difference to others. Thank you to Cindy and all the workers of the LIVESTRONG program you gave us at least two years longer with my sister.