Persevere– I come from a family with 4 brothers. I was 24 and married with a baby on the way. My mom started suffering back pain… the doctors treated the symptoms as a slip disk and gave her many epidurals to fix the problem. At some point they figured get a cat scan. That revealed the real issue…. The C word… cancer. The diagnosis was stage 4… I had no idea about The stages or anything and asked if that was bad… are there 12 stages I said? The truth and knowledge hit me like a ton of bricks… That was the last stage…. She didn’t want to fight but did for us… the fight took her away from us earlier than the disease because depression set in deeply as you can imagine. The cancer was in her kidneys and the doctor decided to take one out to prolong her life even though it had already spread. At the time we found out, I was married and my wife was pregnant with our first child. While she was in the hospital recovering from the surgery we showed her the sonogram of Zach, but the morphine made it hard for her to take it in. How do you navigate this pain and circumstance?
Overcome– My wife was a strong support during this time… it was hard for everyone. But family and friends become your backbone.. At times like these differences between family is supposed to take a backseat to distance and drama. In this case it didn’t really happen that way as our mother was the glue that kept us all close. As she was gone a lot of the communication and tightness wainned. I talk to my brothers just not that often. Life can throw you a curve But how do you recover and overcome?
Succeed– Dom set goals for himself. One was to go to college. He accomplished that. He was the only one in his family to graduate from college. The brothers are all very smart but just took the path that suited them. Dom has gone on to become a Technology Integration Specialist for the School District of Philadelphia and touch the lives of so many educators and students. He is a husband to his beautiful wife and a father to their two kids. Dom has not lost his sense of humor or his quick thinking skills. Those traits together have helped him excel in his position and earn a solid reputation in the School District. When asked about his view on education he replied… This is something you never get over or forget… but you live and find your way to honor her memory, who she was… to honor my mother.
The Third Monkey Movement 