Legacy of Love: A Story of Being Held So I Could Hold
When cancer came into our lives in 2016, our daughters McKenna and Irelyn were just 18 months and three months old. We were young parents, still adjusting to the beauty and chaos of raising little ones when our world turned upside down. What followed was a five-year journey through the unknown—a journey filled with surgeries, chemotherapy, healing therapies, and more uncertainty than I could ever have imagined.
And yet—through all of it—I was never alone.
From the very beginning, our community wrapped its arms around us. Friends, family, neighbors, and even people we didn’t know that well showed up in ways big and small. They brought meals, sat with us in silence, made us laugh when we didn’t think we could, and reminded me—constantly—that we were loved. I felt supported in the kind of way that reaches deep into your bones. The kind of love that allows you to show up fully for someone else.
That love allowed me to be fully present for Mike—to care for him with my whole heart and to love him through every step of his illness. I had the freedom to focus on what mattered most because others stepped in and held our family. Their kindness made it possible for me to do the hardest and most important work of my life: being a caregiver, a mother, a partner, and a witness to his fight agains cancer.
Through Mike’s illness, we discovered what it means to be carried by a community. It was a sacred experience—one that changed me forever. In our hardest season, we were surrounded by light. And that love, that deep and generous human love, became the root of something even greater.
Legacy of Love was born from this experience and as an answer to my prayer, to turn my pain into purpose. It is a heart project and a living tribute to the extraordinary compassion we received. Our mission is to pay that love forward—to offer wrap around care that help other families in crisis experience the same kind of support that allowed us to survive, and even find beauty, in the hardest moments.
Love held us up. Now we offer that same love to others.
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We serve individuals and families with a critical illness health diagnosis. We provide support through services to ease some of the stress and strain life has, so that they can focus on what matters, time with their loved one. We identify the needs of the individual/family, and give with loving support to best ease some burden of every day life for their situation. This could include cleaning/yard/meal/gas/grocery/entertainment/maintenance etc. support, depending what is most helpful to the individual or family after learning about their specific situation.
Our desire is to lean-in as a caring, good vibe community to anyone who has had a medical diagnosis that has dramatically changed life. We want to make sure no one fights alone, and offer a glimmer of hope and joy to those embracing their challenging journey. We want to aid in support so caretakers can focus on time with their person to love them well.