Dear Family and Friends,

My family has been so wonderful in maintaining the Caring Bridge site for me while I have been sick.  Now that I am feeling so much better, I want to be able to personally say THANK YOU and update you on my condition.  This has been a difficult, challenging, educational and surprisingly wonderful journey.  Getting the diagnosis, chemo therapy and surgery was not really fun....challenging yes....but I am thankful that I was able to get through all them because they saved my life.  As a longtime practicing nurse, it was so interesting and educational to be on the other side of the healthcare system.  I now truly understand what it feels like to be a patient in the medical system and how much good, kind and compassionate care means to a patient.  The wonderful part was to start focusing on what is important in life: family, friends and my faith.  It is so easy to get distracted by life and lose track of friends that have meant so much to me.  So my dear friends THANK YOU so much for all of your good wishes!  Many of you I haven’t been in contact with for several years and it brought tears to my eyes to know that you still care and took the time to send your thoughts.  It also reminded me of many wonderful memories in my life and how wonderful and full my life has been.  To my family-you have been a rock to me.  THANK YOU so much for you constant support and strength.  You helped me stay positive and determined to beat this.  Finally, God has been guiding me through every step we have made.  He created a clear path for us to follow, with opportunities that most people would not have available to them in the time frame that we had.  Doug and I believe that we were blessed with so many miracles along my journey.  I have just completed my last chemo therapy session and am now in remission!  Yay!!! I will now be entering a two year surveillance program and hopefully will remain in remission.  This is a lifelong journey for Doug and me.  We are so thankful for all of you and will continue to use your sentiments and wishes to help provide strength and courage as we continue on this journey.

I would love to reconnect with all of you!  Unfortunately, I do not have a current email address for many of you.  I am not really big on social media but if any of you would like to send me an email I would love to reconnect.  My personal email is Mary.a.freeman05@gmail.com.  Again, THANK YOU so much for everything-It means the world to Doug and me.

Lots of love,
Mary