Reasons for our Causes

 

Michelle’s 10 “Doable” Life Commitments, 09/04

 

If you smoke, please stop!  If you don’t smoke, don’t start.

 

Give your body a break – Feed it properly!  Exercise it more than you’d like to …learn something new each day.  Treat yourself to some solace – YOU ARE WORTH IT!

 

If drinking creates a problem for you or for others in your life – get some help.  I promise it will change your life!

 

If your family is happy and generally healthy, your house is clean enough!

 

Please don’t feed your kids a lot of junk food.  Best rule I’ve found, if it comes through nature and they don’t add a lot of “stuff” to it, it’s got to be good for you – I know you want what is best for your kids.

 

 

As much as you can, try to keep fresh flowers in your bathroom.  Often it’s the only time you sit long enough to look at them and enjoy their beauty.

 

Take your grocery cart back to the holding area when you finish shopping.  You will feel great about yourself when you do.

 

 

Be reasonable about cleaning agent and pesticides that you use- Please recycle.  Other Nature is as fragile as I am.

 

Try to keep a little garden in the summertime.  Even the fruit of a potted tomato plant you grow on your deck will bring such joy!

 

 

DON”T BE A BULLY!  Stay true to yourself but always respect the opinion of others. Practice love, forgiveness, and gratitude each day.. You never know what tomorrow may bring.

 

In Loving Memory Michele Turner August 13, 1965 – April 13, 2005

 

September 2002

 

We received the call from my brother Eric and his wife Michele.  Michele had stage 4B lung cancer.  She was 36 years old.  That’s younger than I am now.  Boy did she put up a fight.  Here was a woman who had her demons, she was a recovering alcoholic, and had quit smoking years before.  She was a nature lover with a beautiful garden she was so proud of.  She was a mother of 2 young children and a huge supporter of  her husbands music.  Why her???  Why now???

 

During her illness she was so positive.  She started Tai chi and listened to meditation tapes to help rid her body of bad cells.  We have heard from many, the impact she made with people she met along the way about how she became an advocate for the Cure.  She stayed so positive and fought so hard. 

 

Michele had one lung removed, the scar on her back was huge but she was ok with that – she was alive.  After the initial rounds of chemo and radiation it did seem like she had a chance.  But then scans showed the cancer had spread to her brain. After some intense radiation at Dana Farber in Boston the tumor did reduce in size. But then it moved to her hip.  I think that was the hardest on the family as she never really had pain free moments.  On April 13, 2005 Michele passed away in the hospital with pneumonia. 

 

During her services her step mom Voni stepped up in front of everyone and started with:  Michele and I got together for lunch back in the fall as we often would and she told me that she didn’t think she was going to beat the cancer.  So she sat me down and made me promise at her funeral that I would read aloud her life commitments.  So here they are. 

 

 I don’t think there was a dry eye.  We laughed at some and thought how she could even impact use now.  Michele was an inspiration to us all and I feel very blessed to have known her and loved her as one of the family for 20 years.  She left behind my brother Eric, her high school sweetheart and her two children Jasmine 12 and Myles 11 as well as a large extended family who will never forget her, only honor her. 

 

This is why I have become so involved with fundraising.  I became involved in the ACS Relay For Life® and now I have started getting involved in other causes that have impacted my family and friends.  So go out and support the causes you care so much about.  Volunteer at local offices, drive patients to their appointments, go out and train to run your first 5K.  It doesn’t matter how you help just that you do, you will feel incredible.

 

Janine