Kathy Meyer lived for 13 years after her diagnosis with small cell lung cancer, before passing away April 25, 2020 at the age of 63.
Her daughters, Kimberly and Stephanie, rallied around their mom. Together, they joined the Free to Breathe Walk to raise funds for future research that would help other patients and families.
“Mom always said she didn’t understand why she was allowed to live when so many others didn’t,” Kimberly recounted. “We always felt it was because her mission was to show others there is always hope, even when you can’t really see it. She taught us to laugh through the hard times, and find the good where you can.”
Kathy fell and broke her spine in late 2019, but the more serious threat to her health was the COVID-19 infection she contracted several months later. “It was a pretty rapid downward spiral, and once she was diagnosed with COVID, we knew the damages lung cancer and COPD took wouldn’t give her much of a chance,” Kimberly explained.
“We are choosing to be grateful that the hospital let us in to hold her hand for a little while, when so many families haven’t been graced with that kind of gift. That she had such good care in the end. That people loved her so much.”
The family says they will never forget that last Free to Breathe Walk, and the smile on Kathy’s face. In her memory, they asked for donations to LCRF and continue to hope that research will change what it means to receive a lung cancer diagnosis.
