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people
Sarah Wells and family
WORDS Jeanni Brosius images courtesy Sarah Wells
After thirty-seven years of searching, the first time Sarah Wells
The cancer had created fluid around her major organs. Once
saw her father, she melted into his arms, sobbing. Her anxiety
she discovered the cancer, she began treatments, but Sarah said
faded away, and she finally felt a sense of belonging. She had
they weren’t to save her; it was only to prolong her life. She died
finally found her father.
a year later.
When Sarah was a teenager, her world turned upside down.
“I was at the lake with friends when I got a call saying, ‘We’re putting Marcia on morphine,’” said Sarah, who was only fifteen
On May 10, 1999 – the day after Mother’s Day – her mother,
at the time.
Marcia Priest, died of a rare type of cancer after battling her illness for over a year.
Sarah said she had written a poem for her mother, but because she wasn’t there at the time, her cousin read it to her. “We
Sarah said they found out her mother had cancer after she
were each other’s universe; it was just the two of us,” Sarah said
collapsed at work and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
about her mother. “I was her caretaker.”
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