Friday, August 23, 2013

A Mother's Story of Hope

Imagine the excitement of meeting your first baby. You are heads over heels in love with this tiny person that you've been waiting months to meet. You are finally a mother, the role most of us dream about as little girls. As hectic and exhausting as those early months of your baby's life are they are suppose to be some of the most memorable too.  Then imagine three months after the birth of your precious baby, being told you have cancer with a surival time period of about 15 months. You may not get to see your baby's first steps, celebrate their first birthday, celebrate those moments like potty training, take their picture on the first day of kindergarten and every first day thereafter, celebrate their school accomplishments, cheer them on at that first soccer game, enjoy the amusement of how awful they are when they first start play soccer, watch them grow into their own person as they find their way in the world, and see the wonderful adult they become because your time together has now been cut down to fifteen months of less. How do you get up? How do you go on? How do you live?

Do you give up hope? Do you quit? Or do you fight? Do you cling to your hope with everything you have? Do you put your faith in God and yourself and give yourself a fighting chance.

This is Heather Von St. James' story.  In the Baltimore area we often hear of the risk of mesothelioma due to the exposure of asbestos from certain working conditions. I hope you click on the link below to hear Heather's story and help spread the awareness of this cancer, as well as her message about hope and living with a purpose.


Heather's message and challenge to us is find something we never thought we would accomplish and give it a try. It can be something like art class, yoga, or heck, skydiving. And do it. We need to remind ourselves this is our life, and we should live it with passion. Tomorrow for ourselves or the person we love is never guaranteed. The scariest thing to me as a parent is not seeing my children through this journey of life because as much as it can be difficult, it is a gift. A gift that can be honored with a passion for it.  Don’t wait for something like a cancer diagnosis to wake you up.  Heather  says, "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death. Go out and LIVE!"

Please check out her video and share Heather's story



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