Mom, daughter support each other in cancer battles
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HURON — Less than six months after learning she had a rare form of brain cancer called adenoid cystic carcinoma, Dawn MacLean-Patterson began living every mother’s worst nightmare.
Her 16-year-old daughter, Taylar MacLean, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
MacLean-Patterson, 49, immediately put her own treatment, and her self-pity, on hold to make sure her daughter got well.
“What can you do?” she said. “You take it one day at a time. Before we found out Taylar was sick, I was really feeling sorry for myself. I realized at that moment how much worse it could be. I just thought, ‘Let her get past it.’ She has her whole life ahead of her.”
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| COURTESY MACLEAN-PATTERSON FAMILY |
| Dawn MacLean-Patterson and Taylar MacLean are both battling cancer. A fundraiser is scheduled Dec. 7 to help the family. |
While Taylar has undergone just two radiation treatments, her prognosis is good.
Still, the family has a rough time ahead of them.
The treatments make Taylar terribly ill, and with a weakened immune system, she is not allowed to go out.
MacLean-Patterson is scheduled to have surgery in January to make her more comfortable and begin radiation in February, but her doctors have told her the prognosis is not that good.
“They told me they hope to give me five more years,” she says.
Michael Syrowski of Lorain knows the family well. He and more than 20 other Lorain residents are summer campers at the Huron River Valley Resort Marina, which MacLean-Patterson runs.
And they want to help.
“If you knew Dawn the way we knew her, well, everyone wanted to do something,” Syrowski says. “She’s a single mom trying to make it. You just feel sorry for them.”
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BENEFIT DINNER When: Dec. 7 |
Not only is MacLean-Patterson the mother of Taylar, but she also has a son, David, in college in Florida, where all of her family lives.
With no support system here, MacLean-Patterson is grateful for her friends from the campground and all they are trying to do.
“They’re just very good people,” says MacLean-Patterson. “They’re not only clients, they’re friends. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
While MacLean-Patterson does have insurance, it doesn’t cover the cost of Taylar’s treatment. She is in the process of trying to get assistance, but in the meantime, her campers are looking out for her.
A fund has been set up at Citizen’s Bank in the name of Patterson and MacLean, and collection jugs will be put up around Lorain, Syrowski says.
The Browns Backers in Huron also are hosting a benefit dinner for the family in December.
At this point, the money is the last thing on MacLean-Patterson’s mind.
“As long as she’s (Taylar’s) OK, everything will be fine,” she says. “It’s one thing for this to happen to me, but she’s just a kid. If you have kids, you know, you come second.”
Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or cjolliffe@chroniclet.com.
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