Posted with Permission:

Dear Khrissy,

Thank you for promoting Ovarian Cancer and creating a National Campaign to call the 3rd Tuesday of September TEAL TUESDAY. I wore teal in memory of my Mother who was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 1999. My Mother had just started to get her life in order she was attending college in the evening. My father had passed away from cancer himself 4 years prior. My Mother fell to pieces when my Father died, we were all numb with shock, I'm still numb today. After my fathers death my mother decided to go back to school to better support us kids, she earned a degree and started a new job, life was looking up.

My Mother complained of being tired all the time, we all thought it was because she was working lots of hours. She had lots of stomach problems, indegestion, heartburn, acid reflux, constipation she hardly eat anything though she gained what looked like a beer belly ( we teased her about it) though she never drank. Her purse was always filled with over the counter remedies, she popped tums and rolaids like candy. We tried to get her to see a doctor she wanted to wait till her insurance kicked in. Finally, after several months of stomach pain and back pain she saw a doctor, after doing some tests he said she had fibroids. He gave her an option to remove them right away or wait and see if they became a nuisance (mind you, she would work and come home to bed because she was in constant pain) My Mother waited, she waited too long. While visiting my sister and her new baby in the maternity ward ( her first grand baby) my mother bent over to kiss my sister and my niece goodbye and she screamed in pain, she could not stand back up. Nurses brought a wheel chair in & rushed her to the ER. 8 hours later after having an emergency surgery, a stranger told me my mother was dying and that she had late stage 4 Ovarian Cancer. After many unsuccesful treatments and much pain, my Mother and best friend died of Ovarian Cancer on December 22, 2002, 3 days before Christmas on my 24th birthday. Needless to say one never gets over the loss, our family is still numb with shock. My birthday is a curse.

My Mother loved life, she loved her family she looked forward to being a Grand Mother. Though she was in so much pain she knitted blankets 2 months before she died for each one of her 4 children and new grandbaby, this blanket is all I have. My mother wanted to live, her death was too soon, her life was cut short too early, she was only 54 when she died.

When I wear teal people ask what the teal represents, I know many say hope, I wish I could see the hope. I say hell and I tell them of the hell that Ovarian Cancer has put my family through. Ovarian Cancer is hell, it's the devil of all cancers. It's a demon seed that grows inside a woman killing the woman from the inside out, but it doesn't stop there, it takes away so much more, we died too.

I'm sorry for dumping my sadness on you, thank you for your kind words and beautiful heart.
I've been reading your blogs and almost feel like I know you. I admire all that you are doing to save women and other families from going thru this hell.

Thank you for bringing awareness to this demon. Please keep up the good work.
Jennifer S.