Marlo, Sharon's niece here with a few updates and announcements.
There have been many ups and downs in Sharon's fight for life over the past few months. As you will read from her daughter Jennifer's heartfelt and honest post below, it has been much more difficult than we might think...(For full updates, please visit the "Friends, Family and Supporters of Sharon Miyaguchi Harvey" Facebook page!)
Posted to Facebook by Jennifer on February 1, 2013:
Okay mom – I’m super nervous about posting this, I’m sure you’re going to get extremely upset with me! Feel free to yell as much as you want, I can take it.
This is an update on my mom for anyone who cares to read it. My mom posts all these updates, and while they are true, they are absolutely “sugar coated”. Yes, she’s feeling good right now, but while she was going through chemo she felt really bad. No one knew just how badly she felt. She won’t ask people to bring food or meals, she’s far too stubborn to ask for help, but I can tell you that she was too sick to actually cook. She lived on microwave food during that time as food and sleep were the only things that actually helped her feel any better at all. While she was going through radiation, she posted how she never got the anticipated sore through, while that’s true, she didn’t mention that her esophagus was so sore that anything spicy would leave her in misery for hours. She will never actually tell you all that she’s scared, that she’s lonely, that she’s mad and that she just doesn’t know what to do with all of her emotions.
We raised twenty some odd thousand dollars for her fundraiser and that in itself was a miracle. I cannot thank you enough. Well, here’s where we’re at now. Not all of the scans were covered by Medical. So she is down to around $6,000 to maybe $7,000 left. Her copay is $1,250 per month, so not including outside costs she’ll have to come up with, she’s got 4 maybe 5 months medical coverage tops. As you know, they had to stop her chemo because now she is facing possible heart issues.
Well, her cancer is considered slow growing until it reaches a certain level and then it becomes fast growing. This is why she was given 6 months to live if she didn’t get treatment right away. Well because she’s had to stop her treatment for the heart tests, her cancer is meanwhile growing. By the time she gets back to treatment, it could very well be back to ground zero. And she will only have a few short months to be able to get treatment.
I am trying to convince her of having a second fundraiser*, but my mom was embarrassed about the first one. Asking people for money, even to save her own life is shameful for her. She was basically forced into the last one as we just did it and she had to deal. Now I’m asking for people to possibly talk her into it once again. The other thing I want to tell you about my mom is she is scared. And when my mom is scared she gets mean. So if she snaps at you or is mean, really know it is because she knows she is going to die and she’s scared. Literally to death.
Let me explain what I mean about my mom being mean when she is scared. When I was little I hung myself in a tree by my neck. It was an accident. She came out petrified wondering if I was alive or dead. As soon as she knew I was okay, I got punished. It was because I scared her. My reaction to being scared is to giggle. My daughter got hurt badly. I was super scared, and in trying to be there for her I lost control and started to giggle like crazy. I did not think it was funny, I was petrified. Same thing with my mom and her being mean. She’s petrified and it is completely outside of her control.
Please, family members and friends, please have patience with her if she seems cold or distant. She loves you dearly, she appreciates everything, but she’s scared. Just grab her and force a hug on her. She may fight for a second, but you know what? She’ll love you all the more for it. Even if she is not willing to go forward with another fund raiser, what she needs is love. She needs friends. Real friends. People who will bring her a meal. People who will give her a hug. People who will just love her without ceasing to the end. No matter how much time the treatment gives her, she is terminal. She will die from this, and she is scared. Please read her updates, know that they are true, but they are lacking the real hard stuff. We absolutely praise God for the time she’s been given moving forward, but we’re quickly reaching another wall, another possible ending point. And any family who is upset, suck it up. Please. She’s dying. Please.
*A second fundraiser has been scheduled for April 14, 2013 5:30pm at
Ige's Restaurant & 19th Puka
Tickets are $35 advance and $40 at the door
For tickets, contact Harvey Yamauchi at the information below
If you or your organization would like to donate to the Silent Auction,
please contact Gail Ohashi at the information below
If you are unable to attend, please consider stopping by any Bank of Hawaii branch to donate to "Friends of Sharon Harvey". You can also use the donation link above to send funds directly to Sharon via PayPal.
