LIMA — Michelle has had a trying year fighting stage two breast cancer as well as a lifelong illness, all while trying to provide for her two children — Junior, 12, and Nicole, 11.
Michelle has had seizures for 23 years. They began when she was 11-years-old. In order to control the seizures, Michelle takes 17 different medications. A container filled with medications sits by the couch, within reach.
“I survived a traumatic event,” she said, pointing out that is what caused the seizures. “I’ve broken every bone in my body.”
Earlier this year she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer.
“I had two giant lymph nodes in my left breast,” Michelle said. “They were the size of lemons.”
She went through chemotherapy, but the second treatment had an unforeseen side effect.
“After my second treatment my legs became paralyzed,” she said. “I ended up in the hospital in Columbus for about two months.”
After being released from the hospital she spent three months in a local nursing home undergoing physical therapy, basically learning to walk again. She returned home in October, only o break her ankle.
“This year God has brought me through a great lesson,” she said, while looking at pictures of herself in the hospital and the stages of her hair loss do to chemotherapy. “Depression is strong with the cancer, but I just kept praying day and night. There were times I wanted to give up but God wouldn’t let me.”
Her cancer has improved, she said. The lymph nodes have shrunk and she is undergoing radiation treatments now.
Her fight with cancer, her seizures and broken ankle have made it very difficult for her to provide her children with basic necessities. On top of everything else the family’s stove has stopped working, making it impossible to cook a decent meal, she said.
Through it all her children have been strong, she said. Junior has held his head high and taken her illness in a manly fashion, she said. Nicole, though devastated, has stuck by her mothers side through the ordeal.
“When mom first got cancer I was really, really sad,” Nicole said. “I got over it when she started to get better. I stuck with her like paper to glue.”
Michelle said her family really needs a stove and some food. The children could also use winter clothing and coats. She hasn’t been able to provide those things for them, she said.
Nicole and Junior both wear 14-16 size shirts and pants. They also wear the same size coat, large, she said.
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