The Landrys: Stephen, Sarah, Charlotte, Eleanor and Lainey: 2010 Relay For Life

Mom & Dad - start of the caregiver lap, very emotional

Krista and my Mom

Me, my sisters, my Mom and her sisters (and Ellie)

Some of the BarbKats

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer about 8 months ago. Talk about scary. The idea of my mom having to go through all that treatment made me, my sisters and especially my Dad, very sad. My mom handled everything like a champ though. I'm sure she was scared but she really handled the news better than any of us! I think her positive attitude and her desire to continue life as normal is really amazing. Not that I didn't already know it but this just reminded me, she's such a strong lady!! She went through a few months of chemotherapy, losing her hair on Christmas Eve, and never skipped a beat. She felt good enough to work all through it and managed to give us all a fantastic Christmas like nothing had changed. Not sure how she had the energy to shop - the living room was jam packed with presents, not to mention host Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner.

At the end of April, she had a mastectamy. It was a day surgery on a Friday. I was angry that they wouldn't even keep for one night to take care of her. I mean, I would consider what she had done major surgery! Now I see why... The following day I took Charlotte over to give her a card expecting to go up to her bed for a quick visit then head out. To my surprise, when we got to the house, she was sitting at the dining room table like nothing had happened. Not sure how you can lose a body part and not have any pain at all, but that was my mother's experience. She didn't even need a pain pill, she really had no pain at all!!

She'll be starting radiation soon and hopefully she'll continue with the good luck of feeling great throughout. It'll be everyday for six weeks. Sounds exhausting to me but knowing Mom, it'll be no big deal.

After her diagnosis, my sisters and I (feeling totally helpless) decided to form a Relay For Life team in Mom's honor. My mom's best friend Kathy Comee was diagnosed with breast cancer a month or 2 after my mom. Talk about a weird coincidence. Krista came up with our team name for my mom (Barbara) and Kathy - the BarbKats. Clever, right? :)

I had never participated in the event before and really had no idea what I had gotten myself into. Due to scheduling conflicts, I was the only one who could attend all the captain meetings. I sat through each of the meetings completely clueless. By the end, I guess I kind of had an idea of what we were doing but didn't really know what the relay would be like. I'm SO glad we did this. The survivors walk was completely emotional. Just seeing the the sea of purple survivors t-shirts walking the track... then seeing my Mom out there in the middle of them was touching. And then seeing all the young kids walking... I really don't think there was a dry eye at the place. It was really something to experience. The survivor lap is followed by the caregiver lap. My Dad, me and my sisters jumped in and walked with my Mom.

Here are some pictures from the relay. Everyone had a great time and our team did really well with the fundraising. Hopefully everyone will be back next year. It's because of the millions of women diagnosed before her and events like these that my Mom is able to have such a successful ending to her story.

Luminaria bags - in memory of my Grampy (died of colon cancer in 1982) and his brother my Uncle Bob