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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2004-05-05, Page 3News yr Humour helps daughter endure her mother's struggle with cancer One -woman show entertains local Cancer Society volunteers By Susan Hundortmark Expositor Editor Sara Weber has been touring North America for the past year with a one - woman show about her mother's death from cancer. And, while she performs a toned -down half-hour version of On the Roof to Cancer Society volunteers, they're still the audience she loves the best. "They're my people - they get it. They've already been through it and they don't need the bawling on the floor scenes," she said after her performance to Huron -Perth volunteers of the Canadian Cancer Society in Seaforth last Tuesday. "There was a sweet man in the second row in Seaforth who was smiling and nodding through the whole show and I felt like I was telling my story just to him," • she said. Weber's show details how she and her family coped with her mother's death four years ago in Madison, Alabama. Starting with her mother's diagnosis of lung cancer, the story shares the journey through her lung surgery and two separate brain tumours. It also shares the stress and anguish of watching a loved one battle a life-threatening illness and the humour she and her mother used to cope. "This show lets me share my mother's crazy sense of humour. My mother was quite sarcastic and it rubbed off on me," said the Hamilton actor. After most of her performances, two or three stragglers like to stop her to share their own stories about death and bereavement. "I've been doing the show for a year now and I don't get choked up about it anymore. But, when someone tells me their story, I always get big tears in my eyes for them. It's such a gift to me when people share their stories," she said. In the show, Weber talks about how she was flying to Canada on a trip to visit her boyfriend and used her cell phone at a rate of $100 a minute to find out her mother's test results before her lung surgery. "Crisis situations can make or break a couple," she said , adding how she and her boyfriend Shane art now married. She recalled visiting her mother in hospital after the surgery and watching her mother "try to lap 93 -year- old men who'd had quadruple by-passes" during her daily 10 laps of the hospital ward. And, she remembered the immense feelings of gratitude she had watching her parents after her mother returned home from hospital. "I watched my parents all Arson destroys car interior Huron OPP A car parked at a High Street residence in Seaforth had its interior destroyed after it was set on fire around 3:30 a.m. on April 27, reports the Huron OPP. The fire in the red 1999 Mercury Cougar was put out with a garden hose by a neighbour who was awakened by a blaring car horn. The interior of the car had been doused with a flammable substance. Police report that another neighbour had seen the car parked in the alleyway at 3:15 a.m. before a fire was detected. Anyone with related information is asked to call the Huron OPP or Crime Stoppers. the time and as we held hands to say grace at the dinner table, I would open my eyes and think my chest was going to seize up from what I saw. And, I would think, 'Please don't let me forget this, the feel of their hands in mine.' It wasn't perfect happiness but it was good," she said. Weber shared how difficult it was to get on with her life and pursue her dreams at college when it meant leaving her parents behind when they were coping with health problems. "My parents stood there waving as I boarded the plane and I was finally ready to hang up the Florence Nightingale hat and leave Grumpy and Grumpier. Before long, I quit biting my nails and my back didn't seize up everytime someone coughed," she said. But, then came the call from her mother that she had an operable brain tumour. Weber talked about the long nights of insomnia her mother endured from taking steroids after her brain surgery when they would play cards all night. "It was a special time with Mom when she was sick but not too sick. When we played cribbage in the middle of the night she would tell me how thankful she was to wake up without pain after the surgery. And, she would tell me the only way to stop the fear that came rushing back in the middle of the night was to whup my butt at cribbage." she said. She shared how after a second brain tumour was Sara Weber diagnosed and removed by surgery, she and her mother would fight all day. "Mom, I'II cut those brain tumours out of your head myself if it means you won't he so grumpy," she said while pushing her mother's wheelchair through a mall one day. And, her mother answered, "Why don't you do that? I think 1 have a rusty knife in my purse somewhere." Weber's mother died in May of 2000 and she talked about how it seemed as if her conversation with her Mom continued during the funeral. "I could hear my Mom say, 'Well, would you look at that`? They can't even get along at my own funeral,— she said. Weber has bookings for her show until September. "My dream is to he able to do this for a living," she said. Local volunteers who received awards this year from the Cancer Society include five-year pin winners, John Jacobs, of Hensall, Harold Knight of Hensall, Faye Murray. of Brucefield, Diane Ryan, of Vanastra, Margaret Scholendorf. of Vanastra, 10 - year pin winner Waneta Leishman, of Brussels 15 - year pin winner Carol MacLean, of Egmondville and 25 -year pin winner Barb Delchiaro, of Seaforth. THE HURON EXPOSITOR, MAY 8, 2004-3 HALL RENTAL Seaforth Legion Capacity 197. Kitchen facilities available. Catering also provided by Seaforth Ladies' Auxiliary. Dance floor & hall. Bartenders provided. 519-527-0740 LAWN QUESTIONS? 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