Meet the Models: Lisa Barstow

1. Lisa Barstow, A recent survivor and walking in memory of her mother, Betty Emmons Barstow Hite (1972.) 

Betty Emmons Barstow Hite, our beloved mother and grandmother was ill with breast cancer for 15 of her 50 years. She was one of the first recipients of chemotherapy in 1971 until her death the next year in 1972. That was 45 years ago and it is so gratifying to know how much has been researched since then, how many have been cured and how many lives have been extended because of science, technology and the research of so many dedicated people.

Betty was a kind, warm and generous woman who kept a positive attitude throughout the years when she was ill. There were reoccurrences, her cancer metastasized to her liver and she bore it all with grace and always a kind and loving heart for her family and her caretakers. She loved her granddaughters dearly and they were just 7 and 4 when she passed away. When she was 46 she remarried even though she and my step father knew she may not live long. They had 4 happy years together and she lived every moment with much gratitude.

Now, with my diagnosis of breast cancer this past January I realize how fortunate I am to have so much support and expertise from the medical community. I am 72, not 35 years old like my mother was. There are beautiful events like this one to raise money and to give voice to a disease that wasn’t discussed or as well known in the 1950’s as it is today. So much has been done and I am very grateful.

My daughter-in-law Aimee Mott is joining with us tonight – I am honored to have her here as well as my daughters, Sabrina and Elise. We are all also walking for my sister-in-law Cynthia Barstow who is a survivor and for the girls and boys in the next generations of our family.