Growing up in the Philippines gave Melanie Sinclair and her mom, Imelda Hortaleza, the desire to travel the world. But in 2005, just four years after her father’s job in the Navy moved them back to the United States, breast cancer threatened their plans to explore Europe and other corners of the globe.
Melanie never imagined anything bad would happen to her parents. Imelda was visiting family and friends in the Philippines when she first felt the lump. When Imelda returned home to Texas, she went to her OB/GYN to have it checked out – it was breast cancer. Imelda was so scared when she heard the words “cancer.”
Although, life took an unexpected turn for Melanie and her mom, enduring the challenges of breast cancer together has strengthened their relationship as well as the relationship between Imelda and her grandkids. When Imelda first found out she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she wanted to make sure her grandkids understood that there is hope.
“That’s the kind of person my mom is, she’s like a river that runs deep. Once you get to know her, she pulls you in. She’s the most loving, caring and generous person at heart,” Melanie says.
Now that Melanie’s mom is getting close to retirement, and all of her children are living their own lives, she intends to live hers to the fullest – like traveling the world and modeling this past year in the Komen North Texas Celebration of Hope.
Melanie has walked with her mother in the Komen North Texas Plano Race for the Cure for the last four years. Melanie and Imelda know that “cancer” is a scary word. But there is hope – especially when they face it together.
Will you join them at the Plano Race for the Cure? Click here.
