WE NEVER GIVE UP.
We won the battle...Now let's paddle!
We are the Mammoglams.
WE NEVER SAY NEVER.
In Memory Of Those We Have Lost
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Maureen Weiler 1947-2018
Maureen was a member of the inaugural Mammoglams team and our first Team Captain from 2012-2014. She was an avid runner and loved everything associated with Disney. Maureen's mother was an amazing seamstress and always made the best costumes for Maureen's races.
Maureen was really looking forward to going to Italy for the IBCPC race with the Mammoglams. Unfortunately, she passed away a few months before that festival, though her ashes were there with us thanks to Lisa Henry. We also had a sticker made in her honor (shown above) and many of us have it on our paddles.
Her mother shared with us after her passing that Maureen was known as "Lisa" to all her work friends. Apparently, the Mammoglams team was the only group of people who called her Maureen!
We all miss Maureen and will always remember her kind spirit and loving heart. We feel sure she is in Heaven watching down upon us and is proud to see our progress.
Marina Kaplan 1962-2020
Forever in our Hearts
The fragile beauty of life:
There's a shift in your perceptions when faced with a deeper understanding of the fragile beauty of life. Everything becomes clearer and so profoundly precious. There is sheer bliss in the simple joys of life, felt so much more deeply when experienced alongside the knowledge that it's fleeting and the reality of imminent loss. A terminal illness is a lens through which that which matters most can shift into perfect clarity. Anger and sorrow do not dictate my life.
-Marina Pomare Kaplan
Marina & Paul moved to Jacksonville in 2015. They walked into In the Pink one day and met Jeri. She told them about dragon boating and explained that they would have an "immediate group of friends" if they gave it a try. They showed up the next evening and the rest is history. Though Marina rarely got to paddle, she often accompanied the Mammoglams in the boat. Paul became an integral member of JDBC and paddled on the competitive team.
Marina was much more than a breast cancer survivor. She had a very accomplished career in population health/applied epidemiology and after retiring due to her diagnosis, became fully involved in advocacy. Marina was a patient advocate volunteer with Living Beyond Breast Cancer, Metavivor, the MBC Alliance, and Komen Advocates in Science. Her goal as a patient advocate was to support research for the treatment of MBC, improve access to clinical trials, and ensure high quality oncology healthcare for all patients with MBC. Any person living with cancer who was fortunate enough to cross paths with Marina would attest that her contributions towards that goal were immense.