[agzg]

Thanks for bumping this thread! Some of you already know what my awesome sisterhood story is (because some of you were involved in it!) but I'm going to tell it anyway.

My mom was diagnosed with cancer on December 15, 2006. She had been in the hospital for about a week and a half before her diagnosis, and I had been suffering through my first finals as a grad student at the University of Pittsburgh, 4 hours away from home. I posted about her illness on my LJ (which, when I first posted, could have been quite a few different outcomes), and immediately got a flood of comments and well wishes from sisters (many who I have never met but feel like I know). Those sisters from my chapter who read my update notified the actives and recent alum from my chapter, who were instructed to "wait for instructions" about what to do.

When mom was diagnosed with bladder cancer, I think I posted that night. My sisters, both online and IRL were with me every step of the way. They cried with me when she was diagnosed or when we went through a tough time (I think the hardest was finding out that a tumor had grown in one of her femurs, breaking her leg and rendering her mostly bedridden) and cheered with me when it seemed like mom was making a turnaround (the doctors shrunk that tumor for a time, mom actually stood up for about a minute once, and it made me the happiest girl alive). I was able to not only lean on my sisters for support, but many of their families opened up their homes to me. In fact, one family in the Pittsburgh area offered to fly me from Pittsburgh to NY, where my mom's hospital and subsequent nursing home was, just in case I needed to get there faster than the 4 hour drive permitted. I never actually used it, and so I don't really know how my sisters' parents (both members of my chapter, both close friends) were able to work that, but I have no doubt it would have happened.

Mom's battle with cancer was (thankfully) short - God claimed her on April 1, 2007. While it hurt to lose my very best friend, the woman who I wished I could be, having my sisters there for me made things a little better. Many of my sisters were unable to attend her viewing/funeral, but 6 of them (half active, half alum) came to her viewing, and two more made the four hour drive from Pittsburgh to come to her funeral. Of course, my sister-mother came for it all, and of course my SIL (aka my Alpha Gam sister-in-law and former roommate and future mother of my neices and nephews) was there. Without these sisters and my two best friends from high school, I never would have even made it to the events, let alone through them.

Sisters that didn't make it sent cards, e-mails, prayers, flowers, and support. They are still offering their support, especially on hard days (Mother's Day in particular), and I know I wouldn't get through a day without them.

As I look up at the family pictures we had taken after mom's diagnosis, I know that I wouldn't even be able to hang them up without the support of my sisters. Thanks, all of you!