Fuck off cancer. Sincerely, Mara

Mara has been a dear friend for well over 20 years. In that time I have watched Mara pour her heart into helping others through the most challenging times of their lives with love, humor, and her trademark laugh. Now it's our turn to give back! Let's all do what we can to ease financial stress so Mara can get down to the business of kicking cancer's ass, loving on her beautiful baby, Noelle, and giving Tim a run for his money.

Here is Mara's story in her own words...
"The last 14 months of my life have been something I waited 37 years for. They have brought me so much peace, love, light and happiness. I became a mother to the most beautiful baby, something I have waited so long for and a mother was something I wanted to be more than anything else on this Earth. The icing on the cake was marrying a man, who’s heart is pure gold and when he tells me he loves me more, I honestly believe him. So how does this happen? How at my age does someone who has so very much to live for get Stage 3 Metastatic Breast Cancer? BOOM!! Just like that priorities change, what is important changes, the meaning of life changes and fear, oh the fear. Fear of not seeing my beautiful baby grow into a woman, her having to grow up without a mother and the fear of death in a life that has so much more love to give, peace to spread and light to shine. After my fear calmed it was time to get busy fighting this cancer. There is NO WAY my life is ending this way. I am watching my daughter grow, I am growing old with my husband and my mother is not losing a child. In order to save my life we need to be aggressive. I will be getting chemotherapy every 3 weeks for 4-6 rounds, a bilateral mastectomy, radiation and finally ovary removal. I told my oncologist to hit me hard, I can take whatever he is going to throw at me but I have to see my baby grow. The most insane part of all of this is that I don’t even have a tumor in my breast. The cancer is so aggressive that it didn’t stay in my breast long enough to make a tumor, it moved on to the lymph nodes, which is when I found it. Thankfully, it isn’t anywhere else in my body!! This cancer does not define me, I am not breast cancer, I am a fighter, I am a mother, I am a nurse, I am a lover of nature, of animals and of our planet, my will is a million times stronger than my fear and this cancer WILL NOT win this battle. I am a stubborn person and asking for help does not come easy but while fighting this battle I will not be able to work due to the side effects from chemotherapy, my surgeries and recovery. Any help would be so appreciated. Thank you so very much from the very bottom of my heart!! Love, Mara"