I feel very lucky as a parent in 2012 to have access to the Internet and so many social media sites. It helps me stay in touch with old friends and make many new friends, most of which I will never meet in person but make a difference in my life and my confidence as a parent. There are also those online “friends” who inspire me as a parent and writer — though they may never know who I am.
Susan Neibur was one of those people.
Susan chronicled her five-year battle with a rare form of breast cancer that presents without any physical lump. She was the mother to two boys — ages 4 and 6. She was an astrophysicist. She blogged courageously as she battled her cancer, started to feel better, felt bad again and watched oxygen tanks arrive at her home on January 22 to help her breath around the tumors in her lungs.
Susan died yesterday, February 6. In a post on her blog written by her husband Curt, he thanks all of her friends and readers for the support that they gave to her during the final years of her life. He says:
I can’t begin to describe how her friends, those physically nearby and those she knew only on the internet, enabled her to carry on through five years of treatment and recurrence. Many of you have commented on Susan’s strength and grace, but these were traits that she pulled from all of you.
Susan may have drawn her strength from her online following, but she used that notoriety to further awareness of her rare disease and set up easy ways for people to donate to research. Her impact on inflammatory breast cancer research may not be felt for several years, but she impacted it, just the same.
I only knew Susan through the Internet but I’m a better person, writer, woman and mother for it.
Visit her blog “Toddler Planet” to read more about her life, disease and legacy.
Let’s connect on social media too:
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Category: Life ChangesTags: blogger
