by Richmond Mom Mary Lynn Sacco
The Big “C.” Cancer. That frightening word is heard by so many of us. It affects our friends, our family members and sometimes even ourselves.
My story is about my friend and colleague Nicole Kimber, just 31 years young when she was diagnosed with a rare form of salivary gland cancer. There are so many things I’d like to tell you about Nicole, but the most important thing is that there was just no way she was going to lose to the “beast.” She was an athlete; a jokester; a survivor – except she didn’t.
She had many different treatments to try to get rid of the cancerous tumor, and in the spring of 2011, we got word they were working. The thing about these treatments is that they were grueling, daily, outpatient therapies, and Nicole had to have them two and sometimes three times a day. On top of all of this, they took place inBaltimore,Md., more than 50 miles away from her home.
When Nicole’s dad, who lived inCalifornia, asked her what she was going to do between treatments, she said in her brave, jaunty way, “Dad, I’ll just keep driving myself in and hang out in the waiting room of the hospital, OK?” Well, to her parents and to all of her loved ones, this was not OK.
That’s when she found the Baltimore Hope Lodge. Run by the American Cancer Society, the Hope Lodge offers cancer patients a home-like place to stay, cost free, during their treatments far from home. To Nicole and to the rest of us, there was huge comfort in knowing that she would be living, waiting and working in a quiet, calm and comfortable place during the days and nights she was enduring her rigorous treatments. 
When her treatments were over, Nicole had nothing but good things to say about the Hope Lodge. In addition to not having to faceBaltimorerush-hour traffic, Hope Lodge provided her and a place to catch her breath during treatments, and she was treated like a person, not a person with cancer.
The last time I spoke with Nicole, she told me she’d had a “tiny” surgery to try to get her feeding tube removed. It hadn’t gone well, so she was going to be all over her doctors that week because she was so eager to eat solid foods again. We made plans to see each other the following Monday. She was a survivor, except she didn’t.
The next day, Aug. 9, that awful tumor put too much pressure on one of Nicole’s blood vessels, causing it to rupture and bringing about her almost-immediate death. She was resting at home, her dad close by because her fiancé was out of town, so her passing, while horrid and unexpected, was blessedly sudden and she didn’t see it coming.
She was a survivor, except she didn’t.
We’re all so sad that we lost our brave Nicole, who would have turned 33 on January 13, but we want to honor her short life and make the road less burdensome for others with cancer by having “Nicole’s Room” at the Baltimore Hope Lodge. However, this is not an easy or free process. We need to collect $30,000 in donations before this dream can become a reality.
In less than six months, we’ve already raised $12,000. Our hope is to raise just $3,000 more and then approach corporations and show them that we are serious about our goals. Just think – if just 100 people donate $30, we will be there.
So I am asking for your help in two ways:
First, if you are in a position to help financially, please make a donation to the Hope Lodge in Nicole Kimber’s memory. Any gift, be it $5 or $250, brings us closer to the bittersweet day when we can officially place that plaque on the door of “Nicole’s Room.”
Second, we need help spreading the word. If you have friends or family that may support this effort, please share our goal with them and make them a part of this effort. Forward this email to them, put the donation link on your Facebook profile, pick up the phone and call.
The Baltimore Hope Lodge accepts donations online directly through the American Cancer Society, and it is completely safe and secure: https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate/donateonlinenow/hl08baltmd/index. If you prefer to donate by mail or phone, please be sure that you specify in the check memo line that your gift is for the Nicole Kimber Memorial Fund. The address is: The Baltimore Hope Lodge, c/o Karen Seaberry,636 W.Lexington Street,BaltimoreMD,21201
We can make this happen! Nicole, the girl who loved purple and dogs and exercising and laughing was also the girl who was a survivor.
Except she didn’t. Please help me and the many others who want to honor her memory. Thank you!
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