This website is dedicated to raising awareness and raising funds to fight Ovarian Cancer in my mom's honor. Mom passed away from her long, hard fought battle with Ovarian Cancer on March 28, 2012. From her death until October 6th, 2014 I had done very little to help in the fight against the awful disease that took her from us far too early. That non-action began to weigh on me and so I decided to pick up the fight where she left off. As a start, I thought it would be nice to set up a website in her honor to help raise awareness and to fund the battle against Ovarian Cancer. Since her passing I have missed her presence and wish she was able to share in both the ups and downs of my life, and I'm sure many of you have felt the same void. She was an amazing mother, friend and teacher, even if she could be a pain in everybody's rear! Please join me in helping support the amazing people who have dedicated their lives to finding a cure for this deadly disease. To donate please visit out charity's website: https://p2p.charityengine.net/ovariancancer/Fundraising/individual/karen-schek-remembrance
History of Mom's Disease
Mom was diagnosed in 2005 at the age of 51. It was my sophomore year of college and I remember the exact moment I had found out. I was with my buddies, watching sportscenter at our off campus apartment when my dad called and said we needed to speak privately. It was about a month before finals started, I walked outside onto my balcony (frankly a little frustrated I was missing sportscenter top 10) when he gave me the news. Mom had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. I can remember clearly not knowing how to react, disbelief is probably the best description. The rest of our conversation is a blur, I don't remember what was said or how long it lasted. After we hung up the phone I stayed on the balcony by myself a while and just sat there thinking. After some time I went back inside and continued watching sportscenter with my roommates trying to clear my head. Mom's prognosis was not great, the cancer she had was aggressive and fairly late stage. It was not clear to me at the time how long she would or could survive. One thing though about mom is she was a stubborn, stubborn lady. There was no way she was going to let some cancer stop her from enjoying life and spend time with her "Suity" (for some reason and I still don't know why, that was her nickname for me). Mom would endure 3 highly invasive surgeries and countless rounds of chemotherapy over her 6 year battle. Whenever I was around all she wanted to do was be out and about. We went to the virgin islands twice, she dragged me around London and the English country side and we took countless weekend trips up to the lake in the Berkshires with weekends full of tubing, water-skiing, outlet shopping and all around general fun. All the while she continued to look cancer in the face and tell it not now not me. She and I were able to have 6 years together where we laughed, we cried and we battled together. Her mental toughness and unwillingness to give in or give up drives me every day. Although we often did not see eye to eye, I knew she loved me deeply and fought so we could spend time together. Mom eventually lost her battle with cancer on March 28th, 2012 - but in my mind she was a winner. She lived 6 years when her prognosis gave her less than 2 and she lived them to the fullest, enjoying every moment she had. She created memories for me and many of the other people in her life that we can hold on to for as long as we live. She showed to everybody who knew her that cancer cannot take the joy out of your life and showed us all how to fight adversity. About Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA)
The OCNA is a non-profit organization that was started in 1997 in Washington, DC. OCNA was formed with the purpose of educating women and health care providers concerning risk factors, early warning signs, early detection methods of Ovarian Cancer and to disseminate information regarding treatment options including diagnostic testing and therapy. In addition, OCNA advocates for robust federal funding of programs that fund Ovarian Cancer research, awareness and education programs and has secured over $100 million in appropriations annually from various government budgets including the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Heath and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dancing for a Cure
Please also take some time to check out another organization, created in honor of Karen by her dear friend and college roommate Susan Friedman. http://www.dancingforacure.net/ Susan has been dedicated to Dancing for a Cure since founding it in 2006 and continues to raise money and awareness in the battle against Ovarian Cancer.
