People

It's funny how people are placed in your life.  

I never really noticed it until this summer when Mom was so sick.  I don't think I would have made it through the summer without Blair.  I met Blair when we moved back to Greenville.  Our classrooms were right next door to each other and we hit it off right away.  It's funny, some people you meet and immediately you feel like you have known them your entire life.  Others you can know for years and never really know them.  

Blair lost her mom to Alzheimer's a few weeks after we met. She had just had her youngest son, Garren a few months earlier.   Her mother fought bravely for eight years and Blair watched as her dad struggled through caring for her mom.  Sound familiar?  Like I said, if I didn't have Blair answering my phone calls 2 and 3 times a day this summer I wouldn't have made it through.  

Blair and her sweet family.

During the time that mom was sick and afterwards I kept looking for a way to get involved in Greenville with pancreatic cancer awareness.  I found one national organization on facebook called The Pancreatic Action Network. (If you are on fb, look them up and "like" them) Still, I couldn't find any Greenville groups.  About a month ago I finally just gave up looking and decided I was wasting my time.  The next day I took Brooklynn to dance class.  A little girl in B's class named Julia always had her grandmother and mother with her each week.  As I sat across from them I noticed they had on purple awareness ribbons.  I never said anything because, well, you don't just ask people who they know that died of pancreatic cancer.  We had chatted several times, but then I overheard them talking to one another about a pancreatic cancer walk.  I jumped in the conversation, and as we talked I discovered that little Julia had lost her uncle to pancreatic cancer.  His name was Josh and he was only 35 years old.  Josh survived 19 months.  

Jess and Joyce went on to tell me that they have a small group here in Greenville that organizes things for pancreatic cancer awareness.  Again, like I said earlier- it's weird how people are placed in your life.  It has helped me so much to talk to others who have lost and witnessed this nasty disease.  I've also met Heidi.  Who is a few years younger than me, but lost her mom six weeks after her diagnosis.  Together we are hoping to raise money for research and bring awareness to the Upstate.  Jess and Joyce have already worked very hard to do this.  

November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month,  and Joyce recently got a digital billboard on Pelham and Woodruff roads.  Check it out: