Today was a good day for a couple of reasons!

I met with an attorney to finally put the finishing touches on turning Donna Terrell’s Yoga Warriors Fighting Colon Cancer into a 501(c)(3) non profit organization.  It not only registers us with the Federal Government but it gives us tax-exempt status and allows donations to be tax-deductible.  It’s a step I’ve been wanting to take for a long time and now it’s done.  This organization means a lot to me because it’s inspired my daughter Queah who died from colon cancer in 2011 and I’ve discovered our mission of raising awareness about colon and other cancers is really working.  A few months back a woman told me the awareness generated from Yoga Warriors saved her life.  After putting it off for nearly a year, one of my stories that aired on Fox16 News inspired her to get a colonoscopy.  Good thing she did – because the doctor discovered over a hundred pre-cancerous polyps in her colon and she was told they would certainly turn into cancer.  Today she’s alive and cancer free.  We’ve also provided free liquid nutrition to many cancer survivors – some who’ve desperately needed it but was having difficulty covering the cost.

Another thing that made today such a good day was meeting a lady at the nail salon.  I have a horrible memory but I think she said her name was Barbara so let’s go with that.  While I was sitting in a chair waiting for a nail tech she walked over to me and introduced herself.  She said back in 2010 when she was a nursing student she remembered Queah being one of her patients.  She told me how she though my daughter was delightful.  Yes, delightful was the word she used.  As we were talking it all began to click and I actually remembered her – which is strange since I’m not even sure if I got her name right.   It’s also amazing considering how many nurses attended to my daughter over the course of her illness.  But I remember Barbara because she was a non-traditional student and I remembered thinking at the time what was the driving force to make her to go back to school and start a new career – and the challenges she must have been facing at the time.  I remember she walk into Queah’s hospital room with a much younger nurse and I would have assumed she was the nurse and the younger woman was the student.  As I relived those moments of meeting her it also allowed me to relive those precious moments with Queah during that time. I always welcome that.

I’m so glad Barbara didn’t hesitate to come over and talk to me about my daughter.  Some people don’t like to bring it up because they think it’s too painful for me to talk about. But not Barbara – she could tell, even as tears swelled in my eyes while we reminisced, I was so grateful for this unexpected and precious time.