In December of 2004 my life, as I knew it, came crashing down. Three weeks prior, my family was enjoying Thanksgiving. My mom was too weak and exhausted to cook dinner and therefore my sisters and I were in charge.
The following day my mom and I woke up early and headed to the hospital. My mom was going to receive a blood transfusion. We sat in the room for a few hours as she received a few pints of blood. She was immediately energized and felt 100% better.
The following Monday, my dad took my mom to see her doctor. The doctor was unhappy with my mom's blood count and admitted her into the hospital. Little did we know that this would be her last hospital stay.
She was rushed to surgery and then sent to SICU. The doctors were not quite sure what the problem was. For the next week, the doctor's diagnosed my mother with several things. The diagnosis changed as frequently as received blood transfusions.
Finally, the doctors settled on a diagnosis, Non-Hodgkin's T-Cell Lymphoma. The doctors believed that the onset of this cancer was less than a month prior to diagnosis. Due to the nature of the type of cancer, the doctor's outlook was not too positive.
Mom was given a round of chemotherapy and was not expected to make it through. She did make it through the chemo, however, she was very weak. Too weak to receive a second round. My mother's organs began to fail. Through the course of her stay in SICU she had her spleen and gall bladder removed. Her kidneys began to fail. She continued to loose platelets due to the T-Cell Lymphoma and her bleeding could not be controlled.
December 15th, after concluding that they had done all that they could, the doctors gave my family a dose of reality. They explained that the cancer was too aggressive and that my mom was too weak due to other complications.
On December 16, 2004 at 2:50pm, my mother passed away. She was 45 years old. While there were several things physically wrong with my mother, it was the lymphoma that ultimately led to her death. Since the death of my mother, I have been searching for a way to honor her memory. When I heard about LLS and their Team in Training program, I knew that it would be the perfect way for me to honor my mother while helping others to find a cure for lymphoma.
On June 7th, 2007, I will be running/walking a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in San Diego, CA. My mother will be the driving force. I ask you to join me in honoring my mother, Victoria Kish and those others that have lost the fight to lymphoma. In order to honor my mother and complete the race, I have committed to raise $3,900.00 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This money will go to support the research for a cure of both of these diseases.
If you cannot financially donate, please help cheer me on by writing an encouraging letter or something similar. I will need all the support I can get!
Thank you in advance for your contribution.
Shannon M. Kish
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