By Holly Girst
My husband, Don and I had just had the best moment of our lives…the birth of our son. Everything was going wonderfully, and my mom was elated that she finally had a grandchild. The look on her face when she held him and sense of pride when she spoke about him made me so happy and grateful that I had such great parents.
A few months later our lives were changed completely. My mom had a rash on her arms and legs that just wouldn’t go away. We thought that it was an allergic reaction to laundry detergent or lotion. The doctor recommended cortisone cream. A few weeks later, my mom was having heartburn and lack of appetite. She knew someone in their early 40’s that had the same mild symptoms and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, so she made another appointment. When she mentioned her symptoms to the doctor his reaction was “That is the worst case scenario but I will send you home with some Nexium and we can follow up with an ultrasound to ease your concern.”
A few days later, we got the diagnosis…stage 4 pancreatic cancer. As I struggled with her diagnosis, I was saddened by the thought of my son not knowing his Mommom. I was devastated at the idea of my dad losing his wife of 38 years. My mom was my best friend; I could not imagine not being able to talk to her every day. I spent so many hours on the internet trying to absorb every piece of information on every procedure and every treatment option. I went to every doctor appointment and was disappointed by the lack of decisive action. I was so saddened by her oncologist’s passive attitude and lack of urgency. The memo line of every follow up email was MY MOM, ROSANNE WAYMAN, in hopes that every doctor and nurse who treated her felt like she was their mother. Six short weeks later, she passed away. My mom was only 56.
I felt helpless in those six short weeks. After her passing, I knew that I immediately wanted to help raise awareness for early diagnosis and help fund the research for this awful disease. I wanted to honor my mom’s courageous battle by trying to help others.
I own a salon and spa, so my first thought was to just write a check to the Hirshberg Foundation. As I was mentioning this to my staff, they suggested that they donate their time and plan an event in an effort to make a bigger impact and raise more money as well as awareness. We began to plan the event and it seemed that this became more therapeutic for me each day with every detail we planned out. The event was haircuts and blow outs for clients as well as a raffle, food and entertainment. My staff was booked through the day. Businesses offered to donate large gift baskets and gift certificates for a raffle. Clients who could not make it in for our event asked if they could make a donation anyway. I was blown away by all this generosity. I felt such an outpouring of love and support from my staff, family, clients and friends while planning this event. We managed to raise over $4,000 during our four-hour event, and hopefully next year’s will be bigger and better! I miss my mom, but this event has helped me feel like I am going to be able to help others going through the same situation and hopefully bring us closer to finding the cure.