This page is in Honor of a woman who fought a courageous battle with breast cancer and lost, leaving behind love, honesty, and hope for her four children.
Annetta Jane Wilkes Shaffstall was born on July 26, 1933 in Michigan. She was the youngest of three children. Her siblings, Bernice and William remember the struggle that the family endured in the early years, but none would be so difficult as the one my mother would face in her 30's and 40's.
My mother was a very gentle woman. She had my sister, Becky when she was 28 years old. She carried and lost her first set of twins a year and a half later. Lee and Lynn were stillborn. They were fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. A year and a half after she lost them, she gave birth to my brother Ralph. By the time she was ready to give birth to my twin brother, Randy, and I, she had long since known she had cancer. She was afraid to get treatment, for my father was an abusive alcoholic and money was tight. Instead, she buried the fact that she had anything wrong until they divorced when I was two. By then, the cancer was too far spread to get it all. She underwent a radical mastectomy, concaving her chest and leaving horrible scars. She never let it get her down, at least not in front of her children. She remained cheerful and bright, and played the piano with a vengence. She was a concert pianist.
She underwent both radiation and chemo-therapy, both still in their infancy, and ended up hospitalized on many occassions.
I still can remember visiting her in the hospital. It broke her heart for us to see her there. She was always very active in our lives. Her being in the hospital only kept her away from what she loved most in this world, her children.
The doctors had hoped they had gotten all of the cancer, but it struck in other areas of her body. As the years passed and the cancer progressed, the four of us were placed in foster care. Our visits with her became Sunday trips to the park at the hospital, and walks along the manmade pond's shores. Never once did she let on that she was in pain, at least not to me. She always had a smile for her children,and a hug to shelter us with.
When I was nine, she passed over to God's hands. On June 1, 1976, she earned her wings. She was ever giving, ever loving and ever accepting of what God had in store for her, and it is her courage that I carry with me even today.
I know she watches over her children and smiles at what we have done with our lives. She is reveling in knowing she has eight grandchildren who all resemble her. And she guides us in our paths, giving us subtle hints as to which way to turn.
It is her never ending love that I remember most, and her smile...she had a smile that could light up New York.
I love you, Mommy. |
