An Inspiring Woman...

Team Chris: Pancreatic Cancer Walk 2011

So many people know someone who has/had cancer. For me this person was my Mom. A woman with so much knowledge as a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, but most of all a teacher. She created a world of good, and I want to follow in her footsteps. I am Kirsten Iacovino and in this blog I will be taking you on the journey my mom went through with her fight against Pancreatic Cancer, and how I want to bring awareness to this horrible disease. Let me begin by describing my family, and my Moms' first 5 months fighting against Pancreatic Cancer.

My Mom (Christine Materia) was a woman who touched so many lives. A loving wife, daughter, sister, aunt and friend, an amazing preschool teacher and director for 32 years, but most importantly she was a remarkable mother to my older brother,  older sister, and I. She was a teacher not only to her students but to her family and friends as well. 

July 7, 2011, the day my family started this long journey. I remember the day quite vividly. My sister, aunt, uncle, and my moms best friend waited in the hall as the doctors talked to my mom and dad. I remember the doctor leaving the room and nodding to us. I was the first one to walk into the room. My Dad, holding a tissue box as he and my Mom wiped away tears. I knew at that instant the news was not good. My Dad told us the diagnosis. "Chris (Mom) has pancreatic cancer" Those words are words, no father should ever have to say to his family. I remember being so angry, not understanding why this was happening to MY family. Crying I sat next to my mom, and she hugged me and whispered to me, "I am going to fight, because that is what I have to do". She was discharged from the hospital the next day, with a plan to begin chemo at Dana Farber in Boston. She went through 16 rounds of chemo with little to no side effects. Her oncologists could not believe how well she was handling the chemo, they had never seen a patient like her. She continued her regimen chemo every other week. When she finished her last round of chemo in early December, my mom went in for a CAT scan that would be the deciding factor on whether or not she was a candidate for the Whipple Procedure. After waiting for the results, my moms oncologist and surgeon told her that it was a go for the Whipple. She was scheduled for the Whipple on December 22, 2011...

"Really great people make you feel you, too, can become great"-Mark Twain