On January 1, our mom, Tammi, heard the words every cancer survivor dreads to hear.

It's back.

She made it through Christmas with all our family together for the first time in several years, and she even helped Hallie move to Kansas City to start a new job. Truth be told, she knew something wasn’t quite right. But with so much good to look forward to, there was no time to be sick.

Life has been a bit of an ugly whirlwind since January first. Since then, we have learned that the breast cancer Tammi had in 2009 has returned, as metastatic breast cancer in her bones and the soft tissues of her chest and abdomen. There have been doctors and procedures and pains and lots of medicines. There have been good days and bad. And there has been an overwhelming amount of love and support coming from so many people.

And so this site is a response to all the cards, calls, Facebook messages, the gifts of food and flowers we have received over the past several weeks. We know you care about our mom, almost as much as we do, and we want you to know how she's doing, and how to pray for her. There aren't enough hours in the day, especially with doctor appointments and naps and Bewitched DVD's to respond to all your love, so we'll try to respond here, asking you to please keep sending.

But our other goal is to tell some stories. Because this is a dark path to be on, but as mom has begun to travel along we can't help but to notice these little glimmers of light that remind us God is in the midst of this journey right along with us. These are stories of friends and perfect strangers who have knowingly and unknowingly allowed God to use them in merciful moments along this stormy path. We share these stories because we want you to pray for these people too. Tammi doesn't like to be the center of attention, even in prayer, even when she needs it. So she's asked that you lift prayers for others next to your words to God for her, knowing God is big enough to hold them all.

Friends, this is Tammi’s journey. We wish we could choose a different one for her. But here she is. Here we are. So we invite you to pray, to read, to love on her however you can. It’s a dark road, but it gets brighter with the miracles of medicine, and God’s mercy. Thank you for being her light-posts. Thank you for loving our mom. 

Love,

Hallie, Hannah, and Dalton

Why Saint Tammi?
 

So, Tammi didn't pick the domain name of this site (sainttammi.org). And she's a little concerned she's going to get emails naming all the reasons she is not a saint (we're not going to mention the golf-cart beer expedition Aunt Vicki...). We realize our mom is not perfect (we are the ones who get to hear her mean voice on occasion).

But she's pretty darn good.

Here's the thing, Tammi cares about people, all people, always. She legitimately wants to help any person or creature she can, and she means it when she tells you she's thinking about you.

This is the woman who nursed squirrels, raccoons, baby birds, and rabbits by hand with kitten formula as we grew up. We always had a stray animal or child around, and she prefers a messy full home to a clean and quiet one. Her friends have told us stories in these past weeks about how Tammi would show up when no one else did, how she would offer to take them to the doctor's office when they were in need, how she would come while your house is actually burning down to offer whatever she could, how she would ask how you're doing and mean it. Heck, she even kept working for months knowing she didn't feel good partially because she likes her coworkers at the YMCA so much and knew they needed her help.

And this is all kind of baffling to us, her children, who didn't get this "nice" gene.

When hospital staff take too long to print off paperwork, Hallie wants to attack them, and Tammi kindly asks if maybe there is another printer that would work faster. When the cashier at the grocery store doesn't know how to ring up a lime because she doesn't know what it is, Dalton laughs hysterically and mom kindly tells her "It's a lime," and asks if she needs help finding it on the price sheet. When mom's oxygen machine stops working, again, Hannah tells the company exactly where they can put their oxygen tanks, and mom reminds her it's not their fault.

So to us, her rather less-nice-than-her children, she is a saint.

Tammi Hottle, the patron saint of sparkle, of badass women, and all creatures who need care.

Saint Tammi is the one who needs care now. And we are grateful for all of you who wish to give it.