A little goes a long way...

Imagine this... you're sitting at home watching TV with your brothers and sisters, then your parents walk into the room and ask to have a family meeting. The summer is drawing to a close and school is almost here, so you fully expect your parents to be calling a meeting to talk about the new school year. So, you turn off the TV, get comfortable on the couch, maybe stick your toung out at one of your siblings, and the next thing you know your parents are telling you something that changes your life forever... "Mom has Breast Cancer."

Along with many other people, I dont need to imagine this, because it actually happend to me.

These words are said too often. The only way to put a stop to this scary disease is to find the cure.

I recently excepted the challenge to raise funds to support the Komen Portland Race for the Cure on September 19th, 2010 in the fight to save lives and end Breast Cancer forever. Along with raiseing funds, I will be running in a 5k race.

I have made a goal to raise at least 100 dollars. With your help WE can accomplish my goal. Please donate anything from 5 dollars to 100 dollars.

Thank You!

http://race.komenoregon.org/site/TR/Race/PortlandRacefortheCure?px=2001657&pg=personal&fr_id=1130

Mom's Surgery

Mom went in for her first reconstruction surgery on Friday morning. The surgery lasted a whopping six hours. Sarah and I drove down to Providence Medical Center to say hi. You would think that finding your way around a hospital would be easy, but no it's not. First we were honked at because Sarah was driving the wrong way in the parking garage. Then we couldn't find a parking spot. Once we were out of the car we had to find mom's room. Because of mom's previous treatments I knew my way around the East wing, but were we in the East wing? No, we had to search the whole entire West wing to find the Green Elevators. Why couldn't we just take the Gold, Yellow, or Purple Elevators? Providence has a weird system or getting around. After endless back and forth walking, we found the room.
Mom was drugged up, as expected. Those pain meds gave her a crazy sense of humor. She was crackin' joke all night long. I'd repeat some of the things she said, but it's a lot funnier coming from a drugged up patient. When she goes in for her next surgery I am definitely having a hidden camera record all the silly stuff she says.
Mom had six tubes coming out of her. One thing I want to do is try on the air tubes that go in your nose, just sounds cool.

Dad had been in the room with mom ALL day, so we went down to the cafeteria to eat. Surprisingly, the food was good.

Dad slept at the hospital with mom. But I feel sorry for the other people in the hospital who had to hear him snoring.

Sarah and I went down to the five dollar jewelry sale. I got her a watch for her birthday, and I got myself an amazing, blue scarf.

Sarah and I left around eight that night.

My mom's doctor drew a smiley face for mom. He came in and checked up on mom. He is in a rock band...I've always wondered what fun stuff doctors do after a day of serious surgeries.

Mom gets to come home next Tuesday. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how the family is doing.

My Poems

Okay, so my secret got out. By now you have all heard a little something about me and how I wrote poems for a while. Ya, it's true. It all started when my English teacher gave me the assignment of writing a poem for class. I didn't think I would like it, because I'm not the type of person to share what I feel, and we all know poems hold nothing back. But I got really into the words and a couple of my poems turned out okay.


Basically most of my poems have something to do with my mom's past cancer stage. I realized that I had some stuff that needed to be said, so I put it into a creative writing style. I just hope my words are encouraging and some what of a support for others going through challenging situations. Writing these poems helped me to process and accept the past experiences I faced. I am incredibly grateful for my teacher, Ms. Mulvey for helping, understanding, and encouraging me with my poems.


Here are a couple of the poems I've written. (Double click to read the framed ones.)

This first poem was the one I wrote for class. It is shaped in a pink ribbon, because we had to make our poems look like something.



This next poem is one I wrote about what the panic attack I had during school, after hearing about my mom's cancer.

Panic Attack
Like a flood
Fear rushed in
Drowning me with anxiety.
My dam of stress
Crumbled to pieces.
The wave of tears
Consumed me.
The rock in my throat
Made breathing impossible.
I couldn’t stop
My trembling hands.
Questioning faces stared
As I fought for ease.
My eyes searched
For any comfort,
Then it was found
A life line,
Instead of staring
He gave a helping hand.
In time
Tears secede.
But fears from then
Still seep in
Causing tears now.

I wrote this poem as a Christmas for my mom.

She is my hero
She is there
To give me care
Preparing me for the day
When challenges come my way.

She is my hero
Without hesitation
She is my inspiration
Cancer is what she fought
And she lost a lot.

She is my hero
Through thick n’ thin
She helps me win
I would love her to bide
Always by my side
Nothing keeps us apart
Cause we are connected at the heart.

I’ll like her always,
Love her forever,
As long as I’m living
My mom she will be.

This was my second poem.

No Title

Without warning
It starts attacking.
It is the kind
That degrades the mind.
This selfish disease
Puts you to your knees.
If you stand up n’ fight
You will be alright.
You might lose a lot
But give it all you got.
You will have to endure
Till we find the Cure.

I wrote this poem for my English teacher.

Ms. Mulvey
My stress was at its peak
Then you showed me how to speak,
Now I feel
I can heal.
When I need to share
You are there to care,
There is no expression
For my appreciation.
You’ve done a service
That had great purpose,
You help me in a way
I can only try to repay.
For all you do
I say Thank You.

I wrote this poem to show why I wrote poems.

Poetry Is My Providence
I remember the day
When the news came my way,
I didn’t speak breath or cry
I still don’t know why.
I just can’t contain
These feelings that remain
I tried to seek
A way to speak,
Now I’ve found
Something profound.
A way to confess
All of my stress
Now my voice
Has the choice
To speak
What I think.
Free is my mind
Never again confined
I say with confidence
“Poetry is my providence.”

Thanks for reading!

Find the Cure!

I was shown this picture by a friend, and I love it!

Without warning
It starts attacking.
It is the kind
That degrades the mind.
This selfish disease
Puts you to your knees.
If you stand up n’ fight
You will be alright.
You might lose a lot
But give it all you got.
You will have to endure
Till we find the Cure.

-Lizzy Fotheringham (Yup I wrote it.)

My Family

I'm pretty lucky I got a good family. I have two crazy brothers, and two tough sisters, and my mom and dad.

My dad is a lawyer at VialFotheringhamLLP. He loves it. He also loves to play sports even if he can't get out of bed the next day. He is a big Red Sox fan and me being a die hard Yankee means he will take every chance he can get to dis on my team. He went as far as taking me to Fenway Park to go to a Red Sox game. I have to admit he is doing a good job, I have fallen for the Rod Sox. All n' all he is a great dad.

My mom is a piano teacher and she also works at VialFothreinghamLLP. She loves to be with the family. My mom and dad love to go on cruises together. Last year she battled breast cancer and beat it.

My oldest brother Matt works for something, but I forgot what it is called. He loves to go to the beach and chill. He plays a lot of instruments. He can make the biggest pancakes and he can eat the biggest bowl of cereal.

My oldest sister Melissa works for a photography company. She is married and lives in Utah. She is really good at Lacrosse. She is going to BYU but actually I think she is finishing over at the University of Utah. Melissa is crazy, she can be the most random person one second and then be really smart the next. You wont believe me, but she tried her first orange on her 20th birthday. I love getting to see her.

I can't forget about my Brother in law Brett. He loves to travel. He is really good at photography. He loves to go camping and hiking. He basically loves everything. Brett is the best brother in law I could ever ask for.

My big bro Spencer is a photographer. He loves to watch movies and make everyone laugh. He graduated from LHS and goes to PCC. He likes driving his little red car with loud music. He lives in a house close to Portland. He is crazy.

My big sister Sarah is the only sibling I have at home still. She goes to (10th grade) LHS with me. She is really good at sports, and if anyone says boys are stronger than girls she WILL prove them wrong. Everyone thinks I can take her down in arm wrestling, but that is so not true, I stand no chance against her. Sarah and I like to listen to our music really loud and rock out, even if its a Josh Groban song. We are pretty crazy together.

Then there is me, Lizzy, I am the youngest and coolest in the family. I like photography, music, sports, traveling, and school. I have a mix of each of my brothers and sisters in my personality.

Now you basically know everything about my family, Sweetness!

Chemo Brain

As you all know my mom had to have Chemotherapy a while ago. Well...now when ever she does something weird or not how it is supposed to be done we blame it on the Chemo. We call it "Chemo Brain". I don't know if you would blame this on my mom or the Chemo, but all in all it is pretty funny.

While my family was making our neighbors their Christmas treats I noticed that there were drips of water and soap on the kitchen floor. With my detective mind and skills I determined that the water was leaking from the dishwasher. My dad then opened the dishwasher, as it was going, and there was mounds of soap bubbles everywhere. Mom then said "Where did all that come from?" No one knew, but then I saw it. The empty soap bottle. My mom is a crazy reduce, reuse, and recycle person. Now that we have the big recycling bins she washes every plastic and tin can we use so that she can recycle it. But what she didn't know was that the little bit of soap left over in the soap bottle would create this disaster in the dishwasher. My dad volunteered to clean up the soap bubbles. A detective like myself always has a camera at hand, so I got some pictures of the clean up. Check it out!

The Shave

Most everyone knows that my mom had Breast Cancer last year. When she went through Chemo she had to shave her hair off her head. She wanted all of us to be a part of it. So Sarah, my dad, and I helped shave her head. It was weird, but fun to do. Here are some pictures of The Shave.

Today my mom still has short hair and we love it.

Starting something new

I was talking to my mom awhile ago about school and she mentioned something funny about my dad. She said "Dad used to be really good at poetry... but then he became a lawyer." HaHaHa! I still laugh about that. Just recently a friend of mine has introduced me to the wonderful world of poetry. At first I thought poetry wasnt for me, but now I love it. I have only written about ten poems so far. I plan to continue writting poems still.
Most people know that I am a very shy person. I don't share my feelings unless it is to myself in a journal. That's just who I am. Ever since I wrote an essay for my English, teacher I have been trying harder to share my feelings about my mom's Breast Cancer. One of the ways I have found to be most effective is through poetry. I like that I don't have to say anything, I can just write it all out in a meaningful way. I have only shared my poems with a few people, and I appreciate the comments that they have said to me about my poems. I guess I could post a poem or two on my blog. Enjoy!