Passion | Business | Life Outside of Work – Only Five Years to Live?

When your life is turned upside down, you really think about what’s important in life. Is that fight you had with your son about lowering the toilet seat really that important?  Knowing your life may end soon, puts life in perspective!

A very close friend of mine, Paddy Fishman, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Breast Cancer. When Paddy called me and shared she had Stage 4 cancer and that the medical community considered her terminal,  I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

Paddy is the most positive person on this planet. She is the mother of three, a wife, and a business owner. Just like me, except lose the husband and one child. She happens to be the second friend in less than a year that has been struck with breast cancer with no health coverage. Yes, business owners cut costs too, we may provide medical coverage for our employees, yet at times we elect not to receive our own coverage in an effort to keep our businesses open.

If you were told you or someone you love has five years to live, how would you react? I experienced an array of emotions; I instantly started to grieve over my friend’s life. My first thought went to a memory three years ago when she suggested we create our “mini-bucket” list while on vacation. One item on our “bucket” list was to learn how to surf.

I still laugh hysterically when I think about Paddy, who is very short and “top heavy,” trying to get up on that surfboard. She gave herself her own “wedgie” yet she had no ideal what the rest of the world was seeing. I thought her son and my son were going to drown laughing. I was sitting by myself on the beach, and I had the whole beach laughing at me laughing at Paddy!

2nd Reaction … I got angry with God. Thank God, God doesn’t hold grudges.   I thought, how dare God let this beautiful woman, who makes rainbows out of any storm, experience so much pain and suffering.   As one week turned into four, I began to experience peace, love, forgiveness and hope.  I had hope for Paddy, and I realized I had an opportunity to take a horrible situation and create something wonderful out of it.  So I shared with Paddy that I wanted to create a legacy we can leave behind for her family and mine.

Juggs4Juggs.org is a non-profit I’m in the process of creating.  There are too many women without health care who desperately need breast medical care. The concept behind Juggs4Juggs.org is very simple.  Decorate milk jugs; create faces, and “glue” a bio to each jug of a person needing medical care.  Include instructions on how to donate online and/or collect funds via a “jug” donation drive.  We collect funds online through Helping Hands Ministry, this way all donations are tax-deductible.

Additional reaction ….  joy, excitement, tears and a wonderful feeling of purpose.  The more jugs we decorate, the more laughter we create.  We get silly, we share about life, all while decorating a milk-jug, who’da thunk:-)  I hear funny stories about cancer, especially from women who have already walked through it. These women will make fun of their “jugs” or lack thereof.  They realize their “jugs” are not what made them a woman. Talk about an uplifting experience (no pun intended).

People enjoy seeing the decorated milk-jugs, they laugh, they pray and offer words of encouragement.  Almost every single person offers additional support.  Are you wanting to offer support?  Please go to Helping Hands Ministry and donate to Paddy Fishman’s medical project. Here’s a JING to step you through the process.  Or, join us on August 22 for a golf tournament we are hosting in her honor.

Next time you are faced with unexpected news, how are you going to react?  I learned quickly how to forgive some past hurts, how to be much kinder and how to enjoy the smallest of joys, like the sight of this flower with its raindrops shimmering in the sunshine after a morning rainstorm.  If you want to get involved with Juggs4Juggs.org, or share an uplifting story, please contact Marge Bieler.

Joy and Blessing!