This is My Story of
My Mother
On September 8th, 1961, my mother Ann Marie Menken was born. She grew up in Queens, New York with her parents and older sister. After graduating from catholic school, she attended Adelphi University. She commuted each day to school, constantly working in order to pay her parents rent. Being the first in her immediate family to go to college, my mother worked hard with little support. Once done with undergrad, she worked as a labor nurse at Einstein Hospital, eventually meeting my father who worked there as an OB/GYN. My mother later went on to become a midwife, getting her masters at Columbia University, and worked until she had me (her youngest) in December of 2000.
In March, 2017, my mother was diagnosed with malignant glioblastoma multiforme, a type of tumor in the brain that grows and spreads rapidly. She underwent surgery to remove it followed by multiple rounds of chemo and radiation. However, it wasn't until Thanksgiving of that year, when the cancer came back, that she started to quickly decline. As she became sicker, she lost weight, strength, and the ability to take care of herself. On August 6th, the summer before my senior year of high school, my mother lost her battle and my family lost its most essential member.
