Welcome to Cake PoPs Unlimited!!
This is the place were you can treat yourself and fight Cancer all at the same time.
Let me explain how this all started. On 9/03/2011 my mother passed away from Esophageal Cancer stage 4. They found it in Feb of 2011 and told her it was too late. In my eyes, and I am sure in everyone's eyes, this was not good enough. For the year of 2010, they (as in the doctors) were treating her as if she had Acid Re flux or possible heart disease. And mind you she had no insurance, she was paying all these doctors and tests out of her pocket. Finally, when she couldn't eat no more and her husband had had enough of the lost weight and no answers, he took her to the ER on February 13th, and on Feb. 14th 2011 they gave her the news that would change everything.
My mother was a cake decorator. She loved to bake, sew, crochet, and do crazy puzzles. She loved people. She loved life. She was a fighter right till the end. Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you she was the perfect woman and the perfect mother, because by all means she wasn't, but she was Jerri Lepera. She was her own woman, and she was a good enough mother to me, that I am who I am today because of her.
So in the name of Love, I here by create, Cake PoPs Unlimited~~Fighting Cancer One PoP at a Time!! I promise and vow to donate $10.00 or more from every order I receive to the Cancer Foundation in your name, and if you don't have a Cancer Foundation, it will be donated to Esophageal Cancer Foundation.
You will see a tab on the pages that says Cancer wall. I am hoping to build bricks in Cancer Victims and Survivors names on this wall. We have a wall for everything else, but the for these brave souls who fight Cancer every day with a smile, with a struggle, with a hidden tear. And for the rest of us, we have to watch them. Watch them fight, and know that if we could do anything to help we would, but we can't help them physically battle the war inside. But let's stand together and we CAN fight Cancer so that our loved ones don't have to fight alone!!
Will you stand with me and fight? We need to educate and support!!
My father had esophageal caner back in the mid 90's. for years they had been giving him prilosec and prevacid (this was back when it was all experimental). He was drinking a bottle of Mylanta a day. My mom kept calling different specialists knowing there had to be something more going on. Finally she got a hold of the head of the Hospital of Special Surgery in NYC who was as specialist in Esophageal stuff. He diagnosed my father with Stage 4 Esophageal Cancer. He was given 6 months to live. I was too young to really know what was going on. My parents waited about 4 months and opted for an experimental surgery. The previous results were not good at all but my parents felt they had to try SOMETHING. The surgery didn't go well, there were lots of complications. He was in the hospital for 6 months but he is alive today. He is still very sick but at least is cancer free. They had cut out a part of the esophagus and replaced it with a piece of colon. But they didn't attach it right and scar tissue keeps growing so he has to go have his esophagus stretched back open every so often. Now it is only every 2 or 3 years, but for the first few years it was like once a month he would need it stretched or food would get stuck and he would start to choke. He also has some sort of growth in his lung that they cant identify - it doesn't look like cancer but they honestly don't know what it is. They have removed 1/3 of the one lung to send out to different labs so they can try to determine what exactly it is. They do believe whatever it is, it has something to do with his original Esophageal surgery - maybe bacteria got in somehow or food leaked out from when the colon wasn't sewn in correctly to the old esophagus.
ReplyDeleteI dont usually hear of anyone else who has had a family member with Esophageal cancer. I wish there was a screening test to diagnose it earlier, before it was stage 4, which seems to be when most cases are caught!
Hi Diane,
ReplyDeleteWow, your story is amazing. It is good he is still here and fighting. I am sorry for all the trouble and pain he has gone through. I know that is tough. My mom had 2 stints placed in to keep the esophagus from closing, and they kept telling her, "we will wait on radiation just do chemo". They opted for the radiation on the weekend she passed. I was so angry and to wondering why they waited so long.
I will never forget my mom telling me, "I am scared of dying." She knew she was going to, but the reality was sinking in each day for her, but she fought it. She even told them to take it out she would use a feeding tube, but the cancer had gone way to high and was at the point of the Esophagus split into your lungs. (wind-pipe).
And I do agree, most cases of this type of cancer doesn't get caught till Stage 4. The docs always think something. It is an under-studied cancer, that is for sure.
Great work! I lost my Father in July to pancreatic cancer...with that one they just tell you go wait to die. My Dad was diagnosed in Feb. 2011 and like your Mom had been being told it was acid reflux or a hernia causing the problems, for a year. I was diagnosed in May with appendicial cancer and underwent major surgery in June, lost my Dad in July, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in August and had that removed in September. I am hoping to continue to be a survivor and continue to advocate against this horrible disease. So, thanks for your work.
ReplyDeleteAmy, Keep fighting the fight. You sound like you are strong as can be, and I admire you for that.
ReplyDeletePlease let me know if there is anything we could do to help you with the cause.