Goodbye, Mom.

I'm sure many of you already know this, but my beautiful, amazing mama passed away very suddenly and very unexpectedly the night of October 24. Everyone who knew her, even for if just a little while knows how amazing she is. Was. Speaking about her in the past tense is something I will never get used to. My mom's cause of death (as we currently know it) was a pulmonary embolism. The pulmonary embolism was caused by blood clots on her lungs (which were originally mistaken and misdiagnosed as pneumonia) and the blood clots were caused by pancreatic cancer. We had no idea she had cancer again. She just had her quarterly checkup and scan not long ago, and nothing was found. (Since having uterine cancer almost five years ago she's had quarterly scans.) Pancreatic cancer is the same fucking awful disease that stole my Auntie Linda and my Father-in-Law, Tom. This was all found out via autopsy, which I am so grateful we chose to do. We were told by the coroner that if this didn't kill her at best she would have had another two months. Those would have been two months of a rapid decline and suffering. None of which we would have wanted for our mom. As horrific and shocking, and completely devastating as her sudden loss is, I know she was spared two terrible months, and in turn, we were spared. Her death would have been terrible at any point, even if she lived to 150. My mom was the greatest person in the world.

My family and I are all trying hard to get back to some sense of normalcy. Or at least what our new normal will people. Fact of the matter is, there is an enormous hole in each of our hearts that will never be replaced. It sucks. It hurts.

This is so raw, and I know it will be for a long, long while. We are all in a deep hole of sadness, and your prayers are appreciated.

Unravel.

I realize that I haven't mentioned one of my biggest passions to you guys. 

Unravel Pediatric Cancer. Unravel all started when my friend Libby lost her six-year-old daughter, Jennifer, to DIPG, an inoperable, incurable brain cancer. (She was diagnosed on her sixth birthday, and died in her mom's arms 3.5 months later.) 

Pediatric cancer gets less than 4% of government cancer funding, so it's up to nonprofits like Unravel to do whatever they can to fill in the gaps. With Unravel we encourage people to not only be sorry, but be active. And that's exactly what I'm doing. I am so happy to be working on our local event for Unravel, Mama's Night Out, Livermore, and also with the social media team. I am so excited that Mama's Night Out has spread to so many cities - check them all out HERE! I love seeing the glitter (knowledge) spread far and wide.

If you would like to be involved in this incredible organization, there are lots of volunteer opportunities, and I would be THRILLED to talk to you about Mama's Night Out sponsorship if you are so inclined ;) Just shoot me an email - heather@unravelpediatriccancer.org

36 children a day are diagnosed with cancer. 7 of them die from cancer every single day. Pediatric cancer is not rare. 

Don't just be sorry, be active. It's what I plan on doing, and I hope you'll join me! 

Three Things

1. 2. 3.

There is nothing else I could possibly talk about that is anywhere near as important to me! She had her last radiation treatment yesterday and after a major surgery, six weeks of chemo and six more weeks of radiation she is cancer-free!

She went through this whole thing with an incredibly upbeat attitude, and an amazing outlook. She is an inspiration!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Glimpses of Mother's Day

Mother's Day has truly become one of my favorite celebrations.

It took becoming a mama myself to really understand how truly selfless and amazing my own mom is.

I'm under no illusions that I'm anywhere near as good of a mom that she is, but I can only hope and pray that some of her amazingness will rub off on me!

This year's Mother's Day was especially meaningful. My mom is bravely fighting uterine cancer like an absolute champ! I don't think I've heard her complain ONCE about any pain or discomfort, and her attitude throughout this whole thing is just admirable.

This year I wanted her to take it easy on Mother's Day, and to come over for a brunch that incorporated a few things she loves!

Her favorite color is purple, so I went out and bought a purple serving dish to serve a yummy cinnamon pecan french toast bake in:

Keeping with the purple - lavender lemonade. Served in (my favorite) mason jars, wrapped with lace, and a purple paper straw and a sprig of lavender from our own yard:

Cute, little sucre shop spoons made a thrown-together coconut milk yogurt parfait look festive:

An adorable crochet heart bunting, and a mama's day chalkboard kept with the theme:

{{No pictures during the brunch itself - I was busy, enjoying the company!}}

Later in the day, my little family took me to one of my favorite local restaurants, Sauced. I'm not one who needs a fancy restaurant to feel loved, and this place serves their drinks in mason jars. What's not to love!

Coco was busy playing photographer, and I snapped a pic of her snapping a pic ;)

She took this one (and I edited it) The girl who made me a mama!

We ended the night with a walk downtown. It was perfection.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas, aunties, sisters, cousins, grandmas, mamas to furbabies, and mamas at heart.

{{PIN-able collage}}

Getting personal

A couple of weeks ago we found out that my mom has uterine cancer. 

TODAY she is having a full hysterectomy. Her doctor is hopeful that by removing everything he can eliminate all of the cancer, but she still may need chemo and radiation.

If you are the praying type, please pray. If not, please send my mom any good thoughts you can. Please pray that the surgery removes all the cancer. Please pray that it hasn't spread. Please pray for her doctors. Please pray for a swift recovery. 

At this point, I don't know what to do besides ask for  prayers and well-wishes. (I appreciate them more than you know!)

If you want to leave her a little note in the comments section, please feel free to. My mom reads this blog more than anyone, and I know would love reading them.

As always, thanks for all of your support and for being a Glitter and Gloss reader. xo!

**UPDATE** Unfortunately the biopsy results were not what we were hoping for. The cancer spread to her lymph nodes and the doctors are categorizing it as stage three (although apparently anything in or touching even one lymph node is automatically categorized as stage three) She will begin chemo in the next couple of weeks. If you could keep her in your thoughts and prayers that would be great!

Pancreatic Cancer

In the span of two short weeks I lost my Auntie Linda and my father-in-law, Tom to pancreatic cancer. Words can't even begin to describe the hole left in my heart. The sadness over a song that reminds me of one of them. Texting my aunt, out of habit to have her check for a pair of shoes at her Target.  It's indescribable.

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know that 74% of people diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer will die within a year of diagnosis?  Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, largely because there are no detection tools to diagnose the disease in its early stages. Even though so many people die of pancreatic cancer each year, The National Cancer Institute (NCI) spent an estimated $96.7 million on pancreatic cancer research in  2010. This represents just 2% of the NCI’s approximate $5 billion annual cancer research budget for that year. Ridiculous.

My aunt is gone. Tony's dad is gone. They're not coming back, and unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. But I can do my part to help other families not experience the same tremendous losses. I sell a bracelet, called "The Linda" and 100% of the proceeds go to Pancreatic Cancer research. You can also donate directly HERE.  My cousin, Tara is doing a run in her memory. You can donate directly HERE. (Once I reach my goal of $1000 dollars donated from sales of "The Linda" and various donations, I'll then be donating proceeds to my cousin's run.)

Pancreatic Cancer is a bitch of a disease. It's hard to detect, and merciless. If you can help in any small way at all, I encourage you to!

You can read more facts about Pancreatic Cancer HERE.

Taking a Break

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am taking a bit of an unexpected break.

On Wednesday I lost my beloved Auntie Linda to a quick battle with cancer. I've never experienced such a loss and it really is a shock to the system.

In the midst of all this, my father-in-law has taken a turn for the worse. He's come home and now has Hospice care.

Blog posts will be minimal for a little while, and my shop is closed for now as well. I won't be returning emails as quickly as normal, but if you need anything, you can always reach me there (glitterandglossblog AT gmail DOT com)

You can still link up for Mani Monday this week over on Heather's blog! I look forward to "returning" soon, and thank you all so much, in advance for your patience.

xo,
Heather