For the previous 4 years, Stella and her group “Strides for Steve” have been strolling for hope. This 12 months, they’ll as soon as once more rally collectively, placed on their grey sweatshirts, and be part of Most cancersCare’s 14th Annual Lung Most cancers Stroll for Hope to make a distinction for anybody affected by lung most cancers.
Stella’s husband, Steve, handed away from lung most cancers three years in the past. “We did the Most cancersCare Lung Most cancers Stroll two years with him and this November will mark three years with out him. I’m simply amazed {that a} stroll like this exists.” shares Stella.
Their group began out with 12 individuals and, final 12 months, grew to greater than 40 individuals. “It makes me emotional as a result of household and pals proceed to hitch us. They rise up early to stroll, help, and keep in mind. The entire time we speak about him. We even see Steve’s physician there, who launched us to the stroll, and he all the time wears the sweatshirt we made for him.”
Stella and Steve have been shocked after they obtained the prognosis. “Steve was skinny and by no means smoked. He was a really wholesome man in his 50s. We didn’t know what was mistaken for some time…he was mis-diagnosed with exhaustion, pneumonia, after which tuberculosis. Abruptly, it was most cancers,” remembers Stella.
“You understand that feeling when somebody is speaking to you, but it surely’s like they’re in a tunnel distant and you may’t hear them? You begin considering that this can be a dream. That’s what it was like,” she remembers. “I instantly felt like we have been on our personal. It was very scary.”
Stella describes the load that was lifted when she was referred to Most cancersCare’s Monetary Help Program. “We have been having a troublesome time paying a few of Steve’s chemo and radiation payments. They have been stacking up. We have been referred to Most cancersCare they usually introduced the associated fee down considerably. That was the largest assist! It was superb that there was somebody on the market keen to assist us.”
Stella, who lives in Nassau County, New York, has now taken over Steve’s partnership at one in every of their family-owned pizzerias. She met Steve when vacationing in Greece at age six. Steve moved to the states that very same 12 months, and in what can solely be described as destiny, they reconnected when Steve started working for the household pizzeria with Stella ten years later. They have been married for 25 years and have two sons and daughter.
“When Steve was sick, I went into full caretaker mode. I didn’t wish to discuss to anybody as a result of I didn’t need him to suppose that I used to be giving up on him. Plus, since he was born and raised in Greece, his household simply didn’t speak about most of these issues. We leaned on one another rather a lot, relied on prayer, and located consolation inside our church household.”
For Stella hope and positivity have been important throughout such an unsure time. “It’s important to have hope. You simply should. I stayed optimistic that he could be superb. The docs initially gave him 9 months and he lived for 2 years, in order that’s undoubtedly one thing.”
On November 6, Stella and her household stay up for honoring Steve. “This stroll means every thing to us. Once I’m there, I take into consideration how many individuals have simply been identified and are scared. I get to see people who find themselves going by way of what I’ve gone by way of and it makes me unhappy, but additionally grateful that it’s being given such a consideration.”
“The cash we’re strolling to lift goes to proceed to assist households like us. When he handed, there was a lot that wanted to be finished. I had a enterprise to run and youngsters to handle. Fortunately Most cancersCare was there.”