Thank you to everyone who sent in a nomination. I wish I could have picked everyone! My family helped me choose the winner and let me tell you, it was not an easy feat. But in the end, I think this family is most deserving.
Here is their nomination, sent in by Kelly B.
In the spring 2003 I watched my beloved grandmother succumb to breast cancer. For over a year, I watched her accept her fate and waste away. This was cancer to me. Cancer was not something to fight, it was not something overcome. Cancer was suffering and you just wait for the inevitable.
Barbara Wilson has shown me that having cancer can be the complete opposite.
I have to admit that I do not know Barbara very well. I became her ‘Facebook friend’ because I was friends with her brother Frank in high school. When I first started seeing her updates in my newsfeed there were mentions of cancer but it didn’t seem like anything very serious. She’s so young, it couldn’t be that bad, right? Out of curiosity I began to read her blog. I was shocked and saddened to discover that her cancer is far more serious and invasive than I had assumed. As I read from beginning to current day, I found myself crying one moment to laughing and being in awe of her grace the next. It is obvious to anyone the reads even a few entries of her blog that Barbara has an amazing spirit. Her entries, while usually short, are sweet and almost always humorous. One of my favorite entries is about her favorite Pink Ribbon product, a slogan that states “Yes they’re fake. The real ones tried to kill me.”
It seems to me that Barbara is a perfect example of not only living with a disease but just living. Despite her severe illness, heart surgeries, chemo treatment and whatever else comes with having cancer, Barbara carries on. Her blog and Facebook albums are filled with photos and stories of her adorable boys. They go to church, she takes them Hershey Park, Disney, plays Wii with them despite the toll it will take on her and prepare for big events like Christmas. She attends support groups and the 3-Day Cancer walk. She lives her life more fully than those of us in perfect health.
Barbara has been an inspiration to me. She has shown me that I should not sweat the small stuff. She has shown me that I should cherish my good health and take advantage of it while I have it. She has taught me about the power of spirit and how if you want it badly enough, you can make it through anything.
Erin, I would like to nominate Barbara and her family for Giving is Awesome. Because even though Barbara and I have scarcely spoken to each other in our lifetime she has taught me some of the greatest lessons in the few short months I have been her Facebook friend. She deserves the gift of your art because of her giving spirit.
