MY CANCER JOURNEY

GoGo & Mom

My name is Gloria Morris (aka GoGo) and Theresa Cicco is my mother.  I am her only child and we basically grew up together as I popped in to her life at the young age of 18.  She hasn’t had it easy with me as I really have lived up to my childhood nickname GoGo and kept her on her toes for sure.  She and I have been through a lot and even had a massive head on collision together where she endured significant injuries but I was left without a scratch.  My mom had a ruptured appendix many years ago but outside of that has been very healthy. At least we thought she was healthy.  Just a few weeks ago she finally felt she needed to take action on her feelings of fatigue, discomfort and abdominal bloating.  On September 9, 2022 she decided to visit an urgent care clinic and based on her symptoms, she was diagnosed with a potential urinary tract infection and was prescribed an antibiotic and sent home.  Six days later, realizing she didn’t feel better she made an appointment with the nurse practitioner from her Dr. office and I took her to get checked on September 15th. The nurse practitioner, Patti felt a CT Scan was the best next step.  After much back and forth, we were able to expedite her CT Scan and get her in the next day, September 16th.  She went home after her test and we waited for the results.  Dr. Lauren Harting called her at 7pm that evening and asked that she proceed to the emergency room that Friday night.  My Aunt Tina (Popp nee Cicco) took her and I left my fundraising event and headed to St Mary’s Medical Center. After a battery of tests and various discussions, we now know she’s been battling advanced stage Ovarian Cancer. To say we are devastated is an understatement and after thousands of text messages to loved ones I decided to use this platform to document and consolidate information about our journey together.  We have so many friends, family members, work colleagues and customers from our family business (John Cicco’s Menswear) who want to know how my mom is doing and I have decided this is the best way to communicate.  I will also use this for my own documentation and to organize all of the new information that is being presented to us for the first time.  There are few backdated journal entries that are more for my own historical documentation.  Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work together to fight for her life.

Screenshot 2023-07-08 at 7.39.22 PM

Cancer Support: Teal Hearts of Northwest Indiana

I stopped over to the Lake County Fairgrounds during the Ovarian Cancer Awareness walk and had the great pleasure of meeting Sue Straatman who runs the local chapter. What a kind and sweet human!!! She immediately greeted me with a hug and just gave me tremendous hope and comfort in the short time I met…

Screenshot-2023-07-08-at-7.20.14-PM

The Doctors: Meet our New Best Friends

With weekly doctors appointments and various offices it is been really reassuring to know we have the best of the best helping my mom. We are primarily working with Dr. Sidani out of the NWI Cancer Centers, St Mary Medical Center (part of Community Healthcare System) and University of Chicago.  My mom will need to…

Screenshot 2023-07-08 at 7.09.38 PM

Cancer Support: Phil’s Friends

Phils Friends is an organization I have supported with donations and volunteering for many years. It was strange to be on the other side of things for the first time. I know the Executive Director personally, Judi Earnshaw. We spoke on the phone and she reassured me with the most thoughtful and kind words and…

Screenshot 2023-07-08 at 7.48.20 PM

Friend Love: Paulina Mendoza

It was September 19th and day three in the hospital for my mom. I was staggering through the St Mary’s cafeteria and had the pleasure of reconnecting with a friend and former employee! It has been YEARS since we worked together, I think the last time I saw her was in 1998! She brought me…

Screenshot 2023-07-08 at 7.06.50 PM

Friend Love: Leslie Figg

I have the most amazing people in my life. The always thoughtful Leslie Figg dropped off a beautiful card and this little butterfly to help me remember to take it one day at a time. Thank You for always being so thoughtful Leslie.  Update: Leslie created this gorgeous teal basket with my moms fluffy socks,…

Screenshot 2023-07-08 at 7.04.35 PM

Family Love: The Coreas

The amazing Corea family is always so thoughtful and nurturing. My Aunt Maria and Uncle Frank stopped over to the hospital several times and my mom loves her baked goods (who doesn’t?).  “Slutty Brownies” are always a hit and my mom enjoyed a few bites but just doesn’t have an appetite. My cousin Angie sent…

Screenshot-2023-07-08-at-6.55.39-PM

The Diagnosis: Hospital Stay

We started the day with an visit from Dr Adam Perlmudder, a urologist that works with Dr Bruce Yalowitz. Dr Adam quickly ruled out that the mass was in the bladder or urinary tract. The ascites has been causing her significant discomfort but unfortunately there are no interventional radiologists available on the weekend. The ultrasound…

ad5ee30b-2fd2-316e-92bc-1b6a20929410

Family Love: The Cicco Family History

Aunt Tina was in touch with Zio Franco from Italy and we were able to FaceTime which was nice. The texts he sent were quite alarming as we learned his mom and aunt died of Ovarian Cancer at the ages of 70 and 50. If that wasn’t awful enough, we also learned his two sisters…

Teal ribbon awareness (isolated with clipping path) for Ovarian Cancer, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) disease, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

The Day before our Lives Changed

Arrived for CT Scan at Methodist Southlake Pavilion A as ordered by Dr. Harting’s office.We were told the appointment was actually at the Northlake campus in Gary. Had toreally push to get into Southlake and finally they squeezed us in. The CT Tech’s namewas Laura Brown and she definitely seemed concerned with what she saw…