I haven't posted a blog in awhile. I stopped for a little bit with Thanksgiving and all the Black Friday shopping sales and planned on picking it back up right after all that calmed down. Unfortunately, life got in the way and this is probably one of the hardest blogs I will ever have to write.
My mother in law, Jennifer, has been battling breast cancer since 2013. She went into remission and the cancer came back earlier this year. On Sunday, December 6th my father in law, Adam, took Jennifer to the emergency room for what they thought might have been just a cold. She was coughing, but because she was on chemo, they wanted to get it checked out, just to be on the safe side. We found out that she had fluid in one of her lungs (the side her cancer was on) and they were going to do surgery to drain it. After some tests, they decided that surgery was too dangerous. On Tuesday, December 8th we finally got some answers for the thousand questions we had. We were told that Jennifer had terminal cancer and had less than 2 weeks to live, which just brought on more questions. How could this happen?
On Wednesday, December 9th before we left the hospital, Adam asked if I could take some pictures of them. These were some of the hardest pictures I had to take, but is exactly why I do what I do. I want to capture raw emotions and moments like this are part of life.
We were all at the hospital for as long as we could be and Adam never left her side. On Thursday, December 10th, Jennifer was surrounded by her family and at 4:00pm passed and went on to heaven. She was holding her youngest grandson while he napped, which I know, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Jennifer and I didn't just share the love of photography, but the one thing we really bonded over was Disney. We could sit there and talk about it all day long and then some. When we said that Disney was our happy place, we meant it. We had so many AMAZING memories from our trips to Disney World. She's also the reason I make my mouse ears!
To check out some of my mouse ears, click here.
The very last thing I said to Jennifer when saying my goodbye was "I'll keep the Disney magic." We shared the love for Disney so much that Addison was almost annoyed with it. I know she would never want it be a sad place or memory and I plan on keeping it that way. Disney was our happy place and should always be our happy place.
Thank you Jennifer for being such a big influence in my life, even when I didn't know it. You were like a second mom to me and will forever be grateful for that. The boys won't grow up not knowing who you are, this is why we take a million pictures (maybe Addison can understand that now). Even though I didn't say it much, I love you!
~Alison Shane~
My mother in law, Jennifer, has been battling breast cancer since 2013. She went into remission and the cancer came back earlier this year. On Sunday, December 6th my father in law, Adam, took Jennifer to the emergency room for what they thought might have been just a cold. She was coughing, but because she was on chemo, they wanted to get it checked out, just to be on the safe side. We found out that she had fluid in one of her lungs (the side her cancer was on) and they were going to do surgery to drain it. After some tests, they decided that surgery was too dangerous. On Tuesday, December 8th we finally got some answers for the thousand questions we had. We were told that Jennifer had terminal cancer and had less than 2 weeks to live, which just brought on more questions. How could this happen?
On Wednesday, December 9th before we left the hospital, Adam asked if I could take some pictures of them. These were some of the hardest pictures I had to take, but is exactly why I do what I do. I want to capture raw emotions and moments like this are part of life.
We were all at the hospital for as long as we could be and Adam never left her side. On Thursday, December 10th, Jennifer was surrounded by her family and at 4:00pm passed and went on to heaven. She was holding her youngest grandson while he napped, which I know, she wouldn't have it any other way.
When hearing that Jennifer was in the hospital, many people came to visit her, helped our family by bringing food and support. I even had people asking me to make a go fund me account for her because they knew we had many medical bills. These small gestures meant more than anyone can know to our family. Jennifer was the main income for her household and was the one who did all the finances, which because her death was so sudden, Adam now has to take responsibility over it. We are helping him in any way we can, and it is blessing in disguise that we are living with him still. If you would like to give to the gofundme account, click here. No donation is too small, and we appreciate all the prayers. As we get into Christmas, it's not going to be very easy, but we go day by day and are slowly learning how to live without her here.
I don't want this to be a sad post, but I wanted to talk about what happened. Everything about Jennifer was always so happy, cheerful, and she had such a giving heart and I want to reflect on it.
She would always take in her son's, Addison (and my husband), friends when they needed a place to stay or just needed some help without any questions.
I didn't really know it until she was in the hospital, but almost everything I do was because of her influence. She had such a love of photography that I encouraged her to start her own photography business. When she was on chemo though, she didn't really have the strength to do it anymore. I use to assist her and we would talk for hours about it, she then encouraged me to start doing photography and even referred people to me.
To check out my photography page, click here.
Jennifer and I didn't just share the love of photography, but the one thing we really bonded over was Disney. We could sit there and talk about it all day long and then some. When we said that Disney was our happy place, we meant it. We had so many AMAZING memories from our trips to Disney World. She's also the reason I make my mouse ears!
To check out some of my mouse ears, click here.
Thank you Jennifer for being such a big influence in my life, even when I didn't know it. You were like a second mom to me and will forever be grateful for that. The boys won't grow up not knowing who you are, this is why we take a million pictures (maybe Addison can understand that now). Even though I didn't say it much, I love you!
~Alison Shane~
This is just beautiful Alison. Love you and God Bless You. Jennifer loved her family very much. I don't think I ever seen her without that big beautiful smile. She's the best sister anyone could have ever wanted. I love you so much and miss you so much.
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