Shawna part 1

This is my cousin and one of my best friends Shawna. We grew up together along with another cousin Audrey. We were all 6 months apart and couldn't be separated. Even after she got married we stayed close. She understood me when others didn't and never gave up on me. After having her first baby she became really sick and they found out she had lupus. This was really hard for her and she tried to stay positive. The doctors told her not to have anymore children but she wouldn't listen. She came from a large family and always wanted lots of kids. She had a girl and things went really well so she thought maybe the doctors were wrong. After her daughter was 2 or 3 they tried again to have another one but with no luck. Her lupus continued to zap all her energy and some days she couldn't make it out of bed. She was in Chicago so I thought it would be nice to go help her. I went for a couple of visits and spent most of my time cooking and cleaning and doing laundry. I know she appreciated it and I felt good that I could help out. About 5 years after her daughter was born a cute little boy arrived for them 2 months early. It nearly killed her and he suffered for a long time in the intensive care. She had to drive 2 hours to go see him each time and it sure took a toll on the family. She wasn't going to let him be alone she had faith he would come home. Finally almost a month and a half later she was able to bring him home. She tried to be the best mom she could always supporting her kids. I arranged for a get together with Audrey and her family and Shawna's family to meet in Nauvoo 3 years ago. We had such a great time camping and visiting the sites of Nauvoo and surrounding areas. Its a memory I will hold close forever. We were able to do a session in the Nauvoo temple and the memories of being there will never be forgotten. About 2 years ago our lives were turned upside down when Shawna became really sick. She went in for testing and they found a mass on one of her lungs. When they studied it closer they found it to be cancer so they decided to take it off. After they did this she had to go through chemo and she became really sick.She had to double her doses because of the weakend state of her body from the lupus. After doing all of this she was still sick and kept telling me how dizzy she was. The doctors told her it was probably a side effect from the chemo that she would have to live with. She didn't want to accept it but kept hoping for a different answer. A couple weeks later her head really started to hurt so she went into the ER and they found a tumor on her brain and 2 in her spine. She decided to go ahead and have the one on the front of her brain removed and it cleared her dizziness right up. The ones on her spine started giving her problems so she decided it was best to get the main one out. It was very painful and risky since any false move and she would be paralyzed.At the same point her throat started to close off so they put a stint in there to hold it open to breathe. It was a success and we were hoping this would start helping her feel better. She did start to feel really good for about a month and then she started to have that same pain in her head again. After going back to the doctor they found she had another tumor that would have to be removed. We were all so crushed about this we knew her body couldn't hold out forever with this kind of treatment. Her wonderful in laws had moved out to Chicago to see if they could help and ended up staying for 2 months.
At the beginning of December she had the surgery and it was a success in fact they were really impressed how well she was doing. She was able to come home 2 days after and sleep in her own bed. On Sunday the 5th I got a phone call telling me Shawna had passed away in the night. Her husband later on told me that she had went to bed fine and in the night started coughing up blood. He called 911 but before they could get there she layed back down on the pillow told him she loved him and died. They think the stint in her throat became dislodged and cut off her breathing. I will finish the rest on the next post.