Who Was Missing on Mother's Day

Mary Jane Kiser Baute
October 21, 1966 - January 2, 2017

This is the only photo I
have of her. 

I decided that I would write today, what I was thinking about yesterday. For some reason I thought of my step-sister. It is actually something that I think of often. Mary Jane [Kiser] Baute was her name. She had 3 children.

I was a few years out from my BMT when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. One thing I did not know was that she did not have an advocate. She needed someone to help her understand and utilize the medical system. She also needed to better understand the process of getting the right treatment to get into remission. To stop the cancers progression. Everyone needs help in those times, Mary Jane needed a little more than most.

I'm sorry to say I did not know her well. When our parents married I and most of my siblings were grown and gone. So we didn't get to know each other more than just talking for short periods of time at family things. I wish I had been closer to her. I think maybe I could have been some help. I get very angry thinking about how health care workers that worked with her, did not help her understand she needed someone to talk her through the process, as far as I know. Someone to be there.

The cancer was aggressive and traveled quickly to her lungs, and then her brain. She did not live for very long. Such a short time, as she was diagnosed and died within a year. Such a sad end. She was only 51. I know her children missed her very much this past weekend as it was Mother's Day. Cancer will touch everyone, eventually.

Will cancer ever be cured? Think of all the money that is poured into it every year and still the same treatment of toxic chemo. NO. It will not be cured until there is no profit in treatment. That is true for a lot of diseases. I stay angry. I watch my parents struggle to pay for meds. It's the never-ending nightmare of health care in the US.

One day, I hope we wake.