Five years ago today, a good friend and co-worker of mine, Mary VanBuskirk, died of "undetermined lung cancer" - at age 23. I think by the time they realized it was cancer, it had just spread throughout so much of her chest cavity that the doctors weren't really able to determine where it had started, and she died within about 4 months of the initial diagnosis.
Mary did everything on what most would consider a very shortened timeline, and looking back on it, I like to think it was because somehow she knew that she didn't have a lot of time to accomplish everything that she would have liked to do. She had a daughter when she was in high school, finished college in just over 3 years, then got the job at Minnesota Life and did everything she could to make a wonderful life for her daughter - she even bought a townhome all by herself when she was 22! Amazing! Arraina was always her #1 focus, and they were great together. They loved to go to water parks, ValleyFair, the zoo, the Mall of America, and anything else that two energetic girls could do together!
We spent a lot of time together in her 2+ years at Securian, and here are some of my favorites:
- Going to Lifetime over lunch together - she loooved it there, and her passion for working out was contagious
- Our trip to Colorado Springs for her sister Becky's bachelorette party
- Our trip to Miami - just for a little Girls' Getaway
- But the thing I miss most is our little chats about nothing and everything... her latest crush, Arraina's love of sports and school, how much Mary loved her job, then when she found out she was sick, what was going to happen to Arraina. I actually think she would be impressed about how much Arraina's dad has stepped up and taken responsibility for her.
I wish she was around when my kids were born - I'd love for her and Arraina to play with me and the kids! I miss you Mary, and promise to keep in touch with Arraina, to help make sure she knows how lucky she was to have a mom who loved her so much!
On a slightly related note, although it would not have helped Mary, I have recently ordered a kit to sign up to become a bone marrow donor - through the National Marrow Donor Program. I have been meaning to register for a while, but was recently reminded of it by this post from Matt - which included a link to the NMDP website (http://www.marrow.org/index.html). I know I may never get called, but if I do, I'll jump at the opportunity to be the one to help save someone's life! And I wish I would have known about the option to donate Umbilical Cord Blood through this site while I was pregnant - bummer. But for all of you pregnant folks, this is just something to keep in mind... if it could save a life, why not? I'm already signed up to be an organ donor when I die (hopefully not any time soon), so why not donate while I'm alive, too? :) From what I understand, all it takes to get registered is a cheek swab (well + $52 that you, the potential donor, have to pay for processing - but big deal, in the grand scheme of things, right?). So, if you're willing and able, get out there and do it!! :) Thanks.
