Don Jaquish lost his wife Babbette to cancer last November. She loved flowers, most especially sunflowers, so her husband planted almost 400 acres of the flower in her memory.
The feat took a week to carry out and when Don was finished, he had planted sunflowers along a 4.5-mile stretch on both sides of Highway 85 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Sunflowers take 75 days to grow and Don's tribute to Babbette is finally ready this month. He has been farming cash grains since 1972 in the area and whatever land he didn't own along the stretch were rented out to him.
According to Don, the sunflower seeds would be sold and a portion of the sales will be donated to further cancer research and patient advocacy, an idea Babbette had a few years after she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
Babbette underwent 22 different cancer treatments since 2006, a lot of which were clinical trials so she understood the importance of research. From being expected to live just two weeks, she went on to live nine years.
No matter how strong Babbette's spirit was though, her health kept declining, until she finally passed away last Nov. 17. A month after that, Don and Babbette's daughter, Jenny White, started ' Babbette's Seeds of Hope.'
Each bag of Babbette's Seeds of Hope will feature her story. However, there is no word yet on how much each bag will be and what portion of the sales will be donated. What Don is sure of though is that he will keep planting sunflowers for Babbette every year.
"I hope that eventually we can find a cure for cancer, so other families don't have to go through what we have," said Don.
Multiple myeloma forms from malignant plasma cells. When these cells grow out of control, they lead to a tumor known as plasmacytoma, which usually develops in a bone but may also be found in other tissues. Some signs of multiple myeloma include: low blood counts, calcium and bone problems, kidney problems, infections and monoclonal gammopathy (or having too many of the same antibody).
According to the American Cancer Society, multiple myeloma is relatively uncommon, with a lifetime risk of 0.7 percent in the United States. In 2015, it is estimated that around 26,850 new cases will be diagnosed while around 11,240 deaths due to the cancer will be reported.
Photo: Neil Turner | Flickr
