Donna Ruttan

My Mom
 

She was my rock. My friend. She was always there for me, through everything. She was diagnosed in 2012 with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). She was determined to fight it. In 2015 we knew that she would have to start chemotherapy and she took one last trip to Disney with us, before she started the treatments. She was always upbeat about it. She wasn't going to let cancer beat her, like it beat her mother in 1992. In 2016, after months of chemo, things took a turn for the worse. She developed a paraneoplastic reaction to her treatments and was paralyzed. We were given two years and for two years, I still had my Mom, who was very determined to keep fighting and to walk again. She wasn't going to let it beat her, even if she was in a wheelchair and in a long term care home. She made the best of every bad situation and brought positivity with her, right until the end. On June 27, 2018 she passed away and a piece of my heart went with her. I couldn't walk Light the Night last year, but I was determined to walk this year for her. I love you, Mom. I miss you.