This is my mom.
Born 22nd July of 1933, this year she will celebrate her 80th Birthday.
She is an incredible woman, loving, caring, hard working and strong.
My Mom is 164cm tall currently she weighs just 35kg. Yes, only 35kg this is because she is battling with three different types of Cancer. One of which has affected her digesting system. She has now won that battle with that cancer and it has been eliminated but, still she is suffering during her recovery. This is because she unable to digest and gain her daily nutrition requirements with normal foods, like you and I. Beside her regular meals, she is required to supplement them 5 or 6 time a day with a high nutritional liquid drink called Ensure, However, she’s still in the stages of recovery and doesn’t digest them fully. Each day she has to consume 3 cans, each can costs 5.30 Frs. (+ or - 5€ or 4.50$), the insurance doesn’t pay for that because they are not medical requirements, but they are essential to her full recovery and her health needs. These added essential expenses makes managing very difficult.
Her first cancer was diagnosed back in (1992) for this she received chemotherapy treatment. The therapy was undertaken the town in Bellinzona. It’s not so far from where we live. Just a short distance of 50km away. Transportation was kindly provided by the Cancer-League a charitable organisation. They had a little bus, which had gifted by donations from supporter, it was driven by a volunteers. For each trip there was a fee 30 Sfr. The minibus also transported four other cancer patients from their homes to the hospital for their therapies. This resulted in the short trip of 50klm being long and drawn out collecting and dropping off people to and from their appointments. It made the day very long and tiring for my Mother. Eventually we decided we would drive our mother there, it was far more comfortable, and to be honest, it worked out cheaper.
She is now very weak and due to her poor health she has limitations. But like I said before my mother is strong and hard working, she’s a survivor. She is always trying to do something or another and complains very little. For almost the past 20 years she has worked 3 or 4 times a week as volunteer in a hospice, in the town of Mendrisio. She’s a barkeeper, making sure that everyone has somewhere to relax and socialise, My Moms a people person, and spreads happiness where ever she is. Since my mother has become frailer, we drive her there and we pick her up after her shift, but sometimes she still takes the bus, and has to pay her own fare as there is no payment for her volunteering.
My mom always worked, I think she couldn’t remember when she didn’t. At one time she used to work here in town as post woman, and then she helped me in my shop and bar. Besides being a mother a wife and a house keeping she has had many other different home jobs over the years. I especially remember when she helped my father preparing precious stones used in sophisticated mechanism as for watches, chronometers or even NASA technology. I like to think my mother and father’s handy work might even have travelled all the way up to the space station. And ever now she keeps working, she is an amazing lady. The global financial crisis has hit hard everywhere, I ‘m currently out of work, and it breaks my heart I’m unable to support her and help with the cost the medical insurance does not cover.
She’s a very special person to me, not only my mother, but my best friend as well. She always has great wisdom and I remember 1974 as I told her I find out I preferred men instead of women, she simply answered “that’s not unusual, it just happens like this”. Would you have had a better answer? I think this demonstrate just what a wonderful woman my mother is. I love my mom!
So, to me she is my hero my superwoman. She is an example to us all, and I think she is our Home Hero, and she deserves to be the primary example-image for my 2013.
(Many tx to Sean P. who helped me with the translation)
(Many tx to Sean P. who helped me with the translation)
