On Saturday, February 19, 2022 my mom ended her battle with ALS. A year ago when this all started, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea of a life without my mom. I understood that ALS was a fatal disease that would eventually take her away from me, but I struggled to imagine that it would take someone like Nancy. 

Most of you know that we stopped visits for mom more recently as her pain levels started to become unmanageable and she could no longer communicate without the use of her eye gaze machine. It’s obviously no secret that her body started to decline over the last week. We were loosely preparing ourselves for a goodbye soon, but truthfully I had no idea it would come so quickly. 

What I want you to know about my mom’s final hours is this - she did not go alone. I have a friend who once told me about being there when she lost her grandma and when I heard it originally, I didn’t understand and thought it was strange. What I can say now is that death is just as beautiful and sacred as birth is. We knew our time with her was running out and our family stepped in to walk her home. She was surrounded by love, and pride for this fight that she fought so valiantly. Upon her final breaths we said our goodbyes by sending her off with Amazing Grace. I will remember those moments with her and our family for the rest of my life. What an honor and privilege it was to get to hold my momma’s hand as she walked home. 

One of the last selfless decisions that Nancy made was to donate her body to UT Southwestern for research. ALS is a disease that many believe is uncommon, but it is not. It’s just untamed. Mom understood that donating her body might help us in getting a step or two closer to having some of the answers to questions that my family asked constantly. Because she donated her body, my family has made the decision to allow ourselves to mourn her absence and hold a memorial service for her towards the end of April. As the details of that start to become more clear, please know that our family will make it known so that all who loved her can join us in celebrating her life. 

I am completely devastated to have to wake up to a world without Nancy. My mom and I worked so hard to have a relationship where we called each other friend. I am so PROUD of the woman who fought so hard. She loved until her last breaths, seeing that each visitor was taken care of, each kind deed done for our family never went unthanked, and saw to it that those who loved us knew of her appreciation. I’m not sure I’ll ever know someone quite like her ever again. Although I know I will see her each time I look in the mirror, and hear her in those moments where something gets me laughing hard enough. 

While ALS might have taken her life, I won’t allow it to be the winner. The winner of this is us. We win because we knew her. I win because I had Nancy Woznuck as my mom. When I was younger my mom went through a phase where she loved daily pull off calendars made by the designer Mary Engelbreit. There is one that I’ve saved all of this time because the quote on it always made me think of her. It reads, “I had the most magical of childhoods, because my mother it turns out was always exactly my age.” She had a way of knowing you that made you feel loved, and because of that I feel beyond fortunate to have called her mom.