Sherry was working on her PhD when she called me to say she just got diagnosed with breast cancer. At 29 - - really? I asked her what the doctor said about treatment. “Well he sighed then told me, ‘treatment now is like closing the barn door after the horse had gotten out’”, she said.

‍ ‍The ‘horse had gotten out’ .. what did that mean?

Through the next eight months, despite the rigors of constant treatments, Sherry stayed true to her goal, continuing her intense track of study, research, exams, and finally, her orals. At month 8 - JOY - Sherry found out she passed her exams.

Then I went into labor, and Sherry lapsed into a coma. My daughter was 4 days old when I brought her to Sherry’s funeral.

Sherry had just turned 30.

While we all strived to be there for her during her treatments, to say the right thing, anything that would show Sherry our love and support, words were hard to find and what cards did exist, all felt flat and cliched - or just wrong.

That’s how Dear Sherry was born.

The cards I found just didn’t say the right things, so I wrote my own. 

I hope you find these to be the right words for you, and for her.

‍ ‍