I can’t remember now when I first heard about prayers@tara.org because I feel like they’ve always been there for me. But the first thing that comes to mind is an incident that I remember as if it were yesterday.

I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing in the middle of the nite. When I picked up the phone with dread I heard my brothers voice on the other end telling me that our 87 year old Mother had just been rushed to the hospital. And her doctor had advised him to “alert the family”. “Get home quickly” , he said.

As I was getting ready to leave (for out of state) I sent an email to my closest friends asking for prayer. prayers@tara.org was of course one of them. After a month in the hospital my 87 year old Mother was finally released and sent home. Everyone including her Doctor said “it was a miracle”.

Over the years, I have contacted prayers@tara.org for many reasons. Mostly for others who were going through their own crisis.

About 4-5 mos ago I wrote prayers@tara.org once again when my 79 yr. old Aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer has already taken 3 women in my family. And because my Aunt has a lot of health issues, I wasn’t sure she was going to make it through the surgery, let alone what the outcome might be. Since the rest of our family is 2,000 miles away I was very focused on getting my Aunt through this crisis so that we could all rest easy.
.
My Aunt made it through 2 surgeries. Her tumor was encapsulated and had not spread to her lymph nodes. She doesn’t have to do any follow up treatment and She’s been completely cleared by her doctors.
-Once again, a miracle.

About 2 weeks after my Aunt had her surgeries I was following up myself with a breast surgeon after having had a bad mammogram several months before. I had been so focused on getting my Aunt through her crisis that I hadn’t paid any attention to the fact that over the course of those couple of months, I had 2 mammogram’s, an ultrasound, a biopsy, an MRI and a repeat ultrasound and biopsy myself.

When the surgeon turned to me at the end of my 2nd visit and said, “you have cancer, we’re gong to have to schedule you for surgery immediately” I was completely stunned. I was in a state of complete disbelief. How could I have cancer? My Aunt had breast cancer-we couldn’t both have breast cancer?!

My first response was to write prayers@tara.org. My greatest concern was how to tell my husband, Mother and Brother in such a way that wouldn’t send them into a complete panic. I wrote again when I was scheduled for my initial surgery and again just before my 2nd surgery. When it came time to determine what my treatment was going to be I have to admit that for the first time, I was genuinely frightened. I wrote to prayers@tara.org and asked that they pray that I not need chemotherapy. After which, I was given the opportunity to try a new test that would determine my rate of recurrence. The outcome proved to be a low score which allowed me to do with just radiation and tomoxofin for 5 years. I know that prayers@tara.org was a very big factor in my coming this far. And I know that they’ll be there with me on my journey to rid myself for good of this disease. Now all I need from them is to get my career back on track so that I can live my dream!

I will NEVER be able to thank prayers@tara.org enough for their love, their heart and their generosity. What does it say about humans who are willing to help perfect strangers in their darkest hour?

I’d like to thank prayers@tara.org from the bottom of my heart. God Love You All.

-My Advice? -They’re the best friend you’ll ever have.

Most Sincerely,
Kathleen