This page and charity is dedicated to the memory of my best friend and wife Patsy, who passed away on October 20, 2011 from the terrible disease of a rare and very aggressive form of lung cancer.
Patsy was diagnosed with Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma in June of 2011
Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths of both men and women in the United States, surpassing that of breast cancer and killing more than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined(American Lung Association Fact Sheet) Unfortunately, it also carries with it a very unfair stigma due to the association with cigarette smoking.The bottom line is NO ONE deserves to go through the pain, suffering and hardships of what this disease brings. With “Patsy’s Run” contributions, our goal and mission is to help contribute to foundations that are aimed at finding a cure, and finding a cure is the only answer! I’d like to tell you a bit about our story that led our children and me to start this charity event to do our part to help to find the CURE.
Patsy and I met as co-workers in 1991; a mutual friend helped bring us together. A note of bitter irony – that same mutual friend,( Larry), lost his wife a week before Patsy died and in the same hospital, also of cancer. Cancer plays no games; it can hit any of us at any time.
Patsy was born in Harlingen Texas on December 27, 1954 to Howard and Hortenzia Langley. She had two brothers, Harold and Larry, as well as one sister, Charlene.When we met, Patsy had a daughter, Lalanie. I had four children, Bobbi, Kelly, Kris and Nicholas. This is how our life as a family started out. Eventually, we became grandparents to six beautiful granddaughters, Sheyna, Lauryn, Ashley, Payton, Michayla and Ali (a year after Patsy left us, another granddaughter was born, Ayden).In 2002, Patsy went back to school to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. She graduated in December 2006 with her RN degree and passed her certifications in 2007.
Her love of her patients and the care she felt they deserved guided her in this new career.
The day we learned Patsy had lung cancer will always be ingrained in the mind. The shock and fear was indescribable. In a single day our lives changed forever, and even then we did not yet fully understand just how significant it would be and the inevitable conclusion that was to come.
Less than two weeks after diagnosis she was admitted to the hospital for pain management. It was then that we found out the final diagnosis and the magnitude of how this terrible disease can completely destroy dreams.The doctor came in and told us it was Neuroendocrine, that it was a very rare and aggressive form of cancer, and there was no cure. I can’t explain the intensity of emotions at that moment.
Chemotherapy treatments were started to help relieve her pain and brought with it some hopes that she would be ok. For a while the treatments seemed to help - she was feeling better, wasn’t losing any more weight and she was able to get around a bit better.Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. In October of 2011 she was admitted back into the hospital for pain management. While in the hospital her health deteriorated; the pain was getting worse and she suffered a stroke which was related to the disease spreading to her brain.
Patsy’s compassion for life and her courage to know when it was her time to leave us was amazing.To those who are currently suffering, who have suffered in the past, or those who have been caretakers I don’t need to explain the painful experience that a disease like this brings.
To have watched my vibrant and beautiful wife go through this, the pain and suffering she had to endure, and the disabilities that came with the disease have painfully scarred me, yet it has also inspired me. So many times we cried, wondering if this could really be happening to us, thinking how unfair it is for someone to suffer like this. Our lives had forever changed.
Her family and friends will always love and miss her.
