Patricia Lewis, who has been fighting cancer for years, in her Harlem apartment. “It takes a whole lot of effort to psych yourself that you’re not going to die,” she said. CreditÁngel Franco/The New York Times
Project Good™ is our brand to inform the public of charitable services and events to help the homeless and other individuals in poverty. We also publish stories of the struggles of the common man/woman, facing the many hardships of daily life.
The story below of Patricia Lewis appears in the Neediest Cases section of the NY Times, raising awareness of people who are suffering in our society and need assistance.
Please read the story below and click on the link below to donate to Patricia.
Thank you!
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As She Fights Cancer, a Woman Strives for Normalcy
By JOHN OTIS NOV. 27, 2016
Patricia Lewis, who has been fighting cancer for years, in her Harlem apartment. “It takes a whole lot of effort to psych yourself that you’re not going to die,” she said. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York TimesFor decades, Patricia Lewis toiled as a security guard for NYC Health & Hospitals, a duty she performed along with a second, and sometimes a third, job.
“I showered in the hospitals, I slept on gurneys and hardly came home,” Ms. Lewis, 68, recalled. All that work was to ensure her children’s potential would be realized. Ms. Lewis raised them by herself after a divorce in 1984, motivated by her vow to keep them safe and pay for their college educations.
“These children, I cannot lose them to drugs, I cannot lose them to crime,” she said. “And today, my children, all three of them, are successful. But their success, the way the world is, they cannot help me.”
Ms. Lewis left her security guard job in 2009, a year and a half after tests showed she had cancer in her left breast. The disease has returned four times since, most recently in August, despite repeated treatments of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to remove cancerous tissue.
“It takes a whole lot of effort to psych yourself that you’re not going to die,” she said.
Ms. Lewis must scrape together every dollar to cover medications, hospital bills and other expenses, including rent and groceries. She receives a combined $2,089 a month from her Social Security and pension payments.
“I can’t look to my kids to contribute and help me because they will go under,” she said. They have homes, responsibilities and children of their own, she said.
Ms. Lewis’s two sons are police officers, one in Texas and the other in upstate New York. Her daughter is a teacher in New Jersey. Ms. Lewis tries to see them and her nine grandchildren whenever she can.
“I’m fighting the cancer because it’s fighting me,” she said. “I know I want to live. I worked so hard. I want to enjoy my grandkids.”
In 2011, Ms. Lewis contacted Community Health Advocates, a program run by the Community Service Society of New York, one of the organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. It helped Ms. Lewis buy medication at a lower price.
Photo
Ms. Lewis worked various security jobs as she raised three children on her own. She must scrape together every dollar to cover medications, hospital bills and other expenses, including rent and groceries.Credit Ángel Franco/The New York TimesThis year, she sought its help again. The Community Service Society used $1,380 in Neediest funds to pay an outstanding medical bill and back rent, and to buy a special mattress that allows Ms. Lewis to elevate her legs and sleep more comfortably.
The years long fight against cancer has taken a toll on her body, if not her spirit. Her grip is so feeble she requires a neighbor’s help to open a can of tomato sauce. Part of a tooth broke off simply chewing a carrot. Even if the cancer goes away, she will need to wear a wig for the rest of her life because her hair has grown back in unsightly patches.
“You never know how cold you are at night until you have no hair,” Ms. Lewis said. When it came time to select a wig, she balked at fancier ones because she worried they would make her look like Tina Turner or the Lion King.
“I just want something where when my grandkids look at me, I’m still grandma,” she said.
A desire for normalcy sealed her decision not to remove her left breast, especially after doctors told her the cancer could return anyway. She does not care what her reconstructed breast looks like now.
“It looks distorted,” she said. “But it’s mine.”
She added: “I’m not looking for a husband, but I like to go swimming with my kids and grandkids. I want to be normal, as normal as I can be.”
She has covered the walls of her Harlem apartment, which she calls a cage, with photographs of her grandchildren, as well as artwork they have made for her, turning the sterile, austere space into a shrine to her family.
Doctors have told Ms. Lewis that after her current radiation treatment, which will run through December, her condition could stabilize for five years. She absorbed the news with skeptical optimism, aware that her health has fluctuated and that she is unlikely to keep living on her own.
“Eventually I’ll be in an assisted living home,” Ms. Lewis said. She has already started looking at options. “I’ve made peace with myself with the way I’m going.”
For now, Ms. Lewis, often tired and sick from treatments, leaves her apartment as often as she can. She visits her 89-year-old mother once or twice a week, attends services at the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Harlem and is a regular at her neighborhood’s senior center.
“I have my bad days,” Ms. Lewis said. “But I have my good days, too. I look at my bad days, the good days overrule. If I stay in this bed, I will surely die. If I get out of this bed, I can make myself do.”
Please donate to Patricia at the link below:
https://www.gofundme.com/hu-the-new-york-times-neediest-cases/donate?pc=wd_md_donate_r
All Rights Reserved. Project Good is a trademark of Amazon Sun, LLC.
The story below of Patricia Lewis appears in the Neediest Cases section of the NY Times, raising awareness of people who are suffering in our society and need assistance.
Please read the story below and click on the link below to donate to Patricia.
Thank you!
https://www.gofundme.com/hu-the-new-york-times-neediest-cases/donate?pc=wd_md_donate_r
As She Fights Cancer, a Woman Strives for Normalcy
By JOHN OTIS NOV. 27, 2016
Patricia Lewis, who has been fighting cancer for years, in her Harlem apartment. “It takes a whole lot of effort to psych yourself that you’re not going to die,” she said. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York TimesFor decades, Patricia Lewis toiled as a security guard for NYC Health & Hospitals, a duty she performed along with a second, and sometimes a third, job.
“I showered in the hospitals, I slept on gurneys and hardly came home,” Ms. Lewis, 68, recalled. All that work was to ensure her children’s potential would be realized. Ms. Lewis raised them by herself after a divorce in 1984, motivated by her vow to keep them safe and pay for their college educations.
“These children, I cannot lose them to drugs, I cannot lose them to crime,” she said. “And today, my children, all three of them, are successful. But their success, the way the world is, they cannot help me.”
Ms. Lewis left her security guard job in 2009, a year and a half after tests showed she had cancer in her left breast. The disease has returned four times since, most recently in August, despite repeated treatments of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to remove cancerous tissue.
“It takes a whole lot of effort to psych yourself that you’re not going to die,” she said.
Ms. Lewis must scrape together every dollar to cover medications, hospital bills and other expenses, including rent and groceries. She receives a combined $2,089 a month from her Social Security and pension payments.
“I can’t look to my kids to contribute and help me because they will go under,” she said. They have homes, responsibilities and children of their own, she said.
Ms. Lewis’s two sons are police officers, one in Texas and the other in upstate New York. Her daughter is a teacher in New Jersey. Ms. Lewis tries to see them and her nine grandchildren whenever she can.
“I’m fighting the cancer because it’s fighting me,” she said. “I know I want to live. I worked so hard. I want to enjoy my grandkids.”
In 2011, Ms. Lewis contacted Community Health Advocates, a program run by the Community Service Society of New York, one of the organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. It helped Ms. Lewis buy medication at a lower price.
Photo
Ms. Lewis worked various security jobs as she raised three children on her own. She must scrape together every dollar to cover medications, hospital bills and other expenses, including rent and groceries.Credit Ángel Franco/The New York TimesThis year, she sought its help again. The Community Service Society used $1,380 in Neediest funds to pay an outstanding medical bill and back rent, and to buy a special mattress that allows Ms. Lewis to elevate her legs and sleep more comfortably.
The years long fight against cancer has taken a toll on her body, if not her spirit. Her grip is so feeble she requires a neighbor’s help to open a can of tomato sauce. Part of a tooth broke off simply chewing a carrot. Even if the cancer goes away, she will need to wear a wig for the rest of her life because her hair has grown back in unsightly patches.
“You never know how cold you are at night until you have no hair,” Ms. Lewis said. When it came time to select a wig, she balked at fancier ones because she worried they would make her look like Tina Turner or the Lion King.
“I just want something where when my grandkids look at me, I’m still grandma,” she said.
A desire for normalcy sealed her decision not to remove her left breast, especially after doctors told her the cancer could return anyway. She does not care what her reconstructed breast looks like now.
“It looks distorted,” she said. “But it’s mine.”
She added: “I’m not looking for a husband, but I like to go swimming with my kids and grandkids. I want to be normal, as normal as I can be.”
She has covered the walls of her Harlem apartment, which she calls a cage, with photographs of her grandchildren, as well as artwork they have made for her, turning the sterile, austere space into a shrine to her family.
Doctors have told Ms. Lewis that after her current radiation treatment, which will run through December, her condition could stabilize for five years. She absorbed the news with skeptical optimism, aware that her health has fluctuated and that she is unlikely to keep living on her own.
“Eventually I’ll be in an assisted living home,” Ms. Lewis said. She has already started looking at options. “I’ve made peace with myself with the way I’m going.”
For now, Ms. Lewis, often tired and sick from treatments, leaves her apartment as often as she can. She visits her 89-year-old mother once or twice a week, attends services at the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Harlem and is a regular at her neighborhood’s senior center.
“I have my bad days,” Ms. Lewis said. “But I have my good days, too. I look at my bad days, the good days overrule. If I stay in this bed, I will surely die. If I get out of this bed, I can make myself do.”
Please donate to Patricia at the link below:
https://www.gofundme.com/hu-the-new-york-times-neediest-cases/donate?pc=wd_md_donate_r
All Rights Reserved. Project Good is a trademark of Amazon Sun, LLC.