In Memoriam

This is the end of what has been a long week. Our sister-in-law, Melinda, lost her battle with breast cancer last Friday. She'd been sick in the hospital following a routine reconstructive surgery, showing many of the signs of liver failure. After her death, we found out that it was recurrent cancer that had attacked her liver. The rest of her body could not keep up. We started making flight arrangements when we heard that she had gone from sick but stable, to critically ill. We did not make it there before she passed, but we all got on a plane anyway to be with our family.
Melinda was a wonderful mother to her 3 young kids, an amazing wife to my brother, a loving aunt to our kids, and a caring sister to us. We came to Oklahoma City to honor her and to be with our family - especially my brother and his children. Her beautiful service on Wednesday was led by their church's preacher and we laid her poor body to rest on a lovely hill by a lake. Wind chimes rang in a nearby tree and there were lots of flowers perfuming the air on this warm, yet breezy day. She would've thought it was beautiful. She would not want us to hurt for long. We took the kids to a family fun center/pizza place last night and blew off a lot of steam from all of the preparations that led up to her service.
The rest of our lives begins now. The news we got last night - that it was recurrent cancer that destroyed her liver - felt like this horrible monster that came around the corner to snatch her, just when we thought she had licked it. While this is very upsetting news, it also provides a bit of closure, and with it hopefully, a bit of peace.
Melinda didn't cause this in choosing the surgeries that she did, decisions she and the family made when she was hospitalized didn't cause this, and the doctors treating her these past few weeks didn't make a mistake that caused this - rather they kept her with us for 3 more weeks with their heroic efforts. Time to see her kids, hug her family and friends - for us, one last phone call. We just didn't know at the time that we were saying goodbye.
I told my mom after we heard the news that she is the last one this monster gets to take. To honor my children's Aunt Melinda, my Aunt Carolyn, and my grandmother Reba - we have to find a cure. Please join me in your hearts today in this mission. Tell your friends and family to get checked regularly for this disease. Raise money for research to find a cure. Tell those that ask about your efforts about this 31 year old wonderful woman that got too short of a life here, and that you don't want that to happen to anyone else if it is in your hands to eliminate this monster from this planet.
Her obituary is beautiful and is online here and reprinted below. The blog that updated us about her health, and now will update us on things we can do for the family and to fight this disease is here.
We want to thank Becky's parents for driving up from Austin to help us with the kids, the staff at my office for taking care of my patients when I suddenly had to leave, the friends who've offered us support back home, and the kids' school for understanding why they couldn't be there for their first week. We're coming back to our lives soon, but our lives have been forever changed. -Jason & Becky Evans