Memorial for my Mother

Last February, my mother, Mary McCall, became ill. Her doctor told her it was the flu and she’d be fine soon. Within a week, he’d upgraded her to pneumonia, with a touch of “depression”.

It wasn’t pneumonia. It took the doctor until April to finally realise something was seriously wrong when my mother was taken to the ER because she couldn’t breathe and her heart was racing.

It was cancer. She made it through radiation, and three rounds of chemo before her body couldn’t take any more.

Her final ten days were spent on comfort care at Kaiser. I still can’t thank the nurses and doctors there enough for all they did for us at the end, and for making her comfortable.

She passed on August 21st, 2014.

I miss my mother every day. We didn’t have a funeral; she never wanted one. She was cremated on her wish, and now I want to do something to keep her close always. My mother was the greatest woman ever, and I can only hope to be half as amazing and strong as she was.

Originally I wanted to turn her ashes into a red diamond. It was her favourite colour, and then I’d have something as beautiful as she was for all time, but have you seen those prices? I can’t even fathom spending thousands of dollars right now. So I turned to cremation jewelry that will hold her ashes and keep them close. Something custom, something nobody else has that would really mean something to me.

I looked around, and finally found a single company that will make what I want: a Deathly Hallows symbol. I’m the Potter nerd in the house, though I had been reading the series to my mother during her final days and she was enjoying it. Trouble is, it still comes to $562 plus taxes, and $125 upfront before they’ll even do the proof.

I’m asking for donations to make this a reality, so I can carry my mother with me every day.