Our beloved Michelle has courageously battled breast cancer for the majority of her adult life being first diagnosed at age 29 without missing a beat to support and love those around her. Over the past 18 years, she has been an inspiring daughter, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, sister-in-law, and friend to everyone that has had the pleasure of meeting her and receiving her selfless support. After being diagnosed with bone mets in February of 2020, she bravely continued helping other cancer patients and veterans as a nurse despite being in severe pain. She was fiercely independent and would smile and carry on without asking for help and sacrificed so much to make others feel loved and supported.

Michelle has been an amazing single mom to her beautiful daughters and they will profoundly miss her shining light in the world. From the moment she became a mom, she created a loving home for them to grow and thrive despite fighting cancer the majority of their childhood and young adulthood. She was present, loving, and hopeful doing her best to be their everything.

To the very end, she thought of others and now we want to honor her memory by supporting her daughters through this unimaginably difficult time. Being a single parent, she was their everything. My kids, hurting from saying the long goodbye while she was in hospice care, came up with the idea of trying to work odd jobs this summer to help raise money to pay for her medical and other debt. Unfortunately, the decline was very rapid and they have not had the opportunity to make much progress with their fundraising. I am asking for your help in achieving their goal to provide for Michelle's daughters during this difficult time. We want to allow them the time to grieve and cover medical and life expenses without having to stress about paying the bills in the interim. Please consider joining us in supporting Michelle like she has always lovingly supported us. My kids are going to continue to seek odd jobs this summer (yard work, mother's helper, watering, etc...) to honor the memory of their loving aunt so please let me know if you are in need of assistance. We have all felt very helpless during this journey and raising money will help us carry on and honor her giving spirit.

To quote my son in his final letter to Aunt Michelle: " Thank you for always making me feel special. I am very grateful for you supporting me in everything I did." Those words are true for anyone that had the privilege of knowing my wonderful sister.

Michelle loved Winnie the Pooh and excitedly hosted pooh themed baby showers and birthday parties...the wisdom of pooh will always ring true: "If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever."

Thank you all for prayers, love, and support. We are thankful you are a part of our lives.

With love,

Stephanie