Noreen: A Fighter!!

One recent weekday evening our 6 ½ year old son Ben was in his usual rambunctious mode right before bedtime. Ben said, “Mommy, c’mon let’s wrestle!” Never without a quick-witted response, Noreen immediately informed Ben, “Mommy’s a lover not a fighter.” Without hesitation Ben then replied, “But mom you ARE a fighter, you fight cancer every day!”
This is the story of this week’s inspiration, my wife Noreen. In April 2006, our lives were turned upside down with her triple negative breast cancer diagnosis at age 35. With no family history and no apparent risk factors, the diagnosis was truly a lightning strike. However, from Day One Noreen has exemplified a true fighter attitude. Always staying positive, willing to take the most aggressive treatment options presented to her and always keeping her wonderful sense of humor throughout it all. After many rounds of chemo, mastectomy, radiation, surgeries and more chemo over the next couple of years, we thought she had beaten the disease until a small nodule in her lung was detected in 2008 and determined to be metastatic breast cancer. We then decided to engage a new team at Northwestern to help us determine the best course of action and treatment. They recommended a new combination of chemo drugs which proved successful and after an additional several months of chemo, Noreen went into remission for nearly two years.
Then, lightning struck again with a diagnosis last year of metastatic breast cancer that had reappeared in her lungs, as well has her spine and thyroid. Even though the newly detected nodules were small, it was still disheartening to learn of yet a third diagnosis. So the fight continues and Noreen is back into battle enduring weekly rounds of chemo and the gut-wrenching anxiety over periodic scans and subsequent results. Fortunately, we are blessed to have an incredible network of friends in the community that help us in so many ways as well as loving and caring family support. In Ben’s words, Noreen continues to fight cancer every day and we all remain hopeful she will overcome this disease yet again.
We look forward to participating in this year’s FAB 5K and applaud the efforts of all the organizers, contributors and participants. We will also dedicate the race to two very special fighters. My mother Joan who was diagnosed the same year as Noreen and endured a lumpectomy and many radiation treatments and is thankfully doing very well now. She is the primary caregiver of my father who has battled Parkinson’s disease for over two decades. Also, our dear friend Sarah, a FAB 5K Inspiration who lost her battle in December but deeply touched us with her incredible grace and dignity throughout her fight.