This is a longer story but I promise I think you’ll be inspired.  I know I have been every day!

I am writing to share a bit about a woman who has not only touched my life (being my mom) as well as Mama Nader to so many others. I’m doing this GOFUNDME page because I know my mom won’t ask for help.  She is one of the strongest and yet most stubborn people I know.  The years haven’t been as kind to her due to a diagnosis of a terminal form of cancer (which has tried to get her but she keeps telling everyone she is too Fat & Sassy or when the negative news comes to her she just says, “No need to tell me because I forgot to read that memo!” Nothing in this life has been as difficult for her to handle.  Her concern from the moment she was diagnosed was only for me, not the massive surgeries, chemo, meds and endless stays in the hospital just for me and how she would tackle it as a single mom.  Recently our landlord sold the house we called home and now we need to move, both cars we have  a 1998 and a 2004 are out of commission.  Her car because I was in an accident and to save money reduced the coverage.  No sooner did she do that and I got in to a collision and unfortunately the entire hood ripped up and flipped over the windshield. Then the car I bought (to get to and from school, work, the hospital and doctors visits-which are many) has had many issues that have had to be repaired only to have it break down on my mom Sunday after church and on her way to the OH ST. Garden of Hope facility that allows cancer patients and care givers harvesting time for fresh vegetables.   My mom is on disability and we all know if you are disability the amount received isn’t enough to live on.  I am trying to go to school and work full time to try and help her.  Once hospital bills are paid, health insurance (so she can stay with the oncologist that know her), medication, treatments etc, there isn’t a lot left over, honestly she is usually in the negative.  I see her struggle every month and it breaks my heart because in my mom’s world she is to care for me not me for her.  I am trying to help her as I can but being a student and paying for school has its own limitations.  I chose not to return to the school where I was wrestling to be home with her.  I thought I would rather spend what time I have closer to her than further away and her be alone.   We’ve spent weeks and months looking for places.  I just want to find a place where my mom won’t feel the additional stresses of this illness and burden that it brings.  I would like the times she has left to be one where she can truly enjoy things, the things taken when that nasty disease cancer reared its ugly head.  All her dreams faded away once it came into play.  I made her a promise if she makes it to 55 we are going to have a massive party and I would like to take her home to Argentina one more time so she can see family and where she was born.  She is a fighter but even fighters are taken down a few times.  She is bruised and beaten but she still gets up each day, puts on makeup, gets dressed and does all she can.  Another reason I am inspired by her.  If it were me I don’t know if I could do it with such grace and a smile.  She would love to go back to school (short program) to keep her moving and active.  She always tells me, if she isn’t moving or trying to do something she is afraid her cancer will fighter harder against her.  The situation financially doesn’t allow her the freedom to go back to school and do something she is passionate about and now she is trying to go out and find part time work as a waitress or something that will give her hours and some income to try and make ends meet.  My mom will do what she has to and not say a word but it’s at night when it all hits her most I am awaken because she is not able to sleep because she is choking or gasping for air,  or the nausea, the unbearable pains and massive stress. She wears a CANCER SUCKS pin all the time.  She has shared many of those pins with complete strangers and takes the time to hear how this disease has touched their lives.  I see a bond formed with perfect strangers becomes something inspirational.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen my mom in a Goodwill, a Store, walking on the street etc and meeting someone then parting with a hug and a new friend.  I will share something I wrote for my college essays that says it all about this mom who so inspires.

 I was raised by a single mother who refused to allow me to be a statistic. She was told a boy being raised by a single-parent is more likely to get into trouble. That statistic doubled when the parent is diagnosed with a terminal illness.  We were faced with double the trouble, yet no negative statistic was going to sway her in teaching, leading and sharing with me a pathway to success. My mom places phrases on mirrors, in my lunches and on a message board leading out of our home.  Some that have special meaning are: You be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone!  Have the moral courage to be a light for others to follow! RETURN WITH HONOR!  Remember you are a NADER!  Because of my mother’s guidance, I know that there is nothing I can’t achieve. I have grown because of her words of wisdom.   As a kid I asked my mom what I should be when I grew up. She said: “Nick, be a good man.”  I rolled my eyes at her and said: “That’s not what I mean.  What job should I do?”  She said: “Be a good father”.   “Mom, I mean job!”   What she shared still resonates with me: “Nick it doesn’t matter if you are President.  If you are not a good man or good father, then nothing else matters.”  

I make it a priority to have good, honorable friends.   I live by the standards taught to me by my mom and by my church.  I am not a negative statistic even though the odds were not in my favor.  I do not know what lies ahead of me once my mom passes away, but I do know that she has taught me things that have helped me be a good son, leader, man and future father.  If I am half the man she thinks of me, then I have succeeded.  I will forever share these life lessons to all those around me.  Let your light shine.   I thank my mom for instilling in me the desire to do my best and let my light shine! I do this to honor my mom and my namesake.  I am a Nader and these are the phrases of my life.

Two other phrases my mom shared with me got me through: What does not break you makes you stronger and Never give in and never give up.  (These are two that she lives daily)

In honor of my biggest fan!

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.

~Abraham Lincoln

It is very hard to put into words the many ways in which my mom has touched and influenced my life.   It is hard to pay such a paltry tribute to an individual that has done nothing less of sacrificing her whole being to the welfare and happiness of her child.  For the longest time while growing up my world was my life and for some strange reason I thought my world was my mom’s life as well.  I mean why else would she want to know every detail of my life, what was going on, if I was healthy and regular, what the girl situation was like, if I was getting enough to eat and if I was brushing my teeth and reading my scriptures?  While away from home, I imagined my mom sitting up in bed and troubling herself over all the things I was struggling with.  Little did I know that she was indeed doing just that and not just at night but also as soon as she woke up.  I don’t understand why she does love me at times but it has always been one thing that I have never had to doubt.

My mom would do anything for me—my mom has already done everything for me.  Most of the good that resides in me has come from the tireless efforts of my mom teaching me, always by example, in subtle yet calculated ways.    She has taught me what is right from what is wrong.  She has taught me what it means to be genuine and honest.  She has taught me what it means to be patriotic and stand up for what is right.  She has taught me who the Lord is and how to know Him.  She has taught me how to serve and to love others.   She has taught me that the most important things in life will never be purchased with money.  She has taught me what it means to be loyal and the importance of family.  She has taught me silly humor and that laughing at oneself helps conquer storms.   She has taught me that being somewhere close to insanity only adds spice to life.  She has taught me how to be happy and love nature.  She has taught me the importance of dedication and the power of learning. 

My mom has been one of my greatest teachers.  The qualification for her being that teacher who has instilled all these principles in my life hangs proudly on the walls of her heart.  You can’t see this diploma you can only witness it through observing everything that she is.  I truly hope someday to be like her.  I hope to some degree she is proud of what I have and still strive to become.  Of course, of this I do not doubt because I know that my mom loves me regardless of whatever I accomplish or fail to accomplish; that is and has been the job of my mom.  I remember growing up and spending time with my mom and remembering that I felt like the luckiest kid alive.   I realize now that each and every one she's influenced feels that same way.  Somehow mom was able to hang out with me and made me feel like I was the most important person to her.  I want to honor her by doing the right thing in continuing my education, wrestling and carrying on that Nader tradition. 

I hope you see what an inspiration she is to not only me but to so many others.  If you could donate anything it would be appreciated.  Many thanks,

Nick & Maria Nader

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”