Dear Rosie,

I promise not to tell you what a great Mom and caregiver you are, but I will tell you this.
You are not alone.

I've watched my aunt go through the final stages of life. I won't pretend they are easy. It's the hardest thing I've ever gone through. I understand totally what you are seeing and experiencing with nobody in the world to stop it!

She was taken from us at 56. Went to the grocery store and died of sudden cardiac arrest trying to buy dinner for the family.

We never saw it coming at all. I think that was the worst.

Talk to your daughter. Let her know that you are proud of her and that it is ok to go on to the next world.

She needs to know that. My aunt hung on for two weeks in a coma before we gave her that.

Hope is what we live on from the minute we get this diagnosis. For some of this, this works. For others, hope isn't enough, and we're faced with saying good-bye to our loved ones.

God bless you, but you seem destined to have to say goodbye to your daughter. I'm humbled....I don't know how I could do that.

I promised not to say how good you are, but I will say how proud I would be to have you for a Mom. And I know that Heather knows this too.

Mandi