Cancer patient aims ‘to prove doctors wrong’
Dozens turn out to helpmother given threemonths to live
Cancer patient Schnee Bedford-Hau kisses son Merbi, 8, at a fundraiser Sunday in Sunnyvale.
SUNNYVALE — When you hear what Schnee Bedford-Hau has gone through over the last year, it’s hard not to feel her anguish.
After being declared cancer-free in March after six months of treatment for stage 2B cervical cancer, the San Jose mother of three’s cancer has returned — and is spreading. The 28-year-old has been given just three months to live. There’s a therapy that might extend her life. But it’s costly and time-consuming. Meanwhile, she’s had to quit her job, and her husband already used up all his sick and family leave during her first battle with cancer. Still, she’s hopeful, thanks in part to her religious faith.
“I believe in miracles,” said Bedford-Hau as she sat on a small rise at Serra Park with her husband and children. “I’m going to prove the doctors wrong.”
On Sunday, dozens of people braved the 100-degree heat at the Sunnyvale park in order to help out BedfordHau. They were attending or participating in a fundraiser to help pay for her medical
costs and travel to her treatments. Karla Hau, Bedford-Hau’s sister-inlaw, organized the event. She said that BedfordHau’s case manager had launched a GoFundMe site with a goal of raising $10,000 but that it hadn’t gotten much response. So Hau, a San Jose resident, told her mom and sister that they ought to do something.
They held an initial fundraiser about three weeks ago and asked family and friends to donate time and food to cook and sell. That event raised $2,400, and Hau was hopeful that Sunday’s event would raise even more. Hau had been in Washington, D.C., in training to be a nun, but returned in part because she heard about her sisterin-law’s illness. She felt she was called to help out.
“I knew God sent me here for a reason,” said Hau, 30.
On Sunday, Hau endured a blazing-hot grill to make papusas for the fundraiser. Working under portable pavilions to get some shade from the sun, other family members made tacos or grilled meat. A woman who works in the radiation department of Bedford-Hau’s hospital, who befriended her during her treatment for her first bout of cancer, sold raffle tickets. Friends of the family, members of Bedford-Hau’s church, Santa Clara’s Our Lady of Peace, and friends of friends were hanging out at the park, eating the food or awaiting the event’s raffle.
Among those attending was Jackie Ortiz, along with her boyfriend and daughter. Ortiz, 40, is a member Our Lady of Peace and heard about the park gathering through Grace Laxamana, the church’s office manager who is a friend of Bedford-Hau. Ortiz thought going to the event “would be a great way to help the family.”
“I was touched by the fact that she’s a mom and has three kids,” she said.
Manny Mendez, 37, likewise doesn’t know BedfordHau but found out about the event through a family member who does. He said he came out to the park to “be supportive.”
“I’d heard about it and the cancer she has.”
For Bedford-Hau and her family, the last year has been something of an emotional roller coaster. This past spring, after she got a clean bill of health from her doctor, she went back to work. Although she and her husband, Freddy, had a civil wedding in 2012, they renewed their vows in a church ceremony in May. Things seemed to be looking up — until her doctors found new tumors a month later. The initial prognosis was that they couldn’t do anything more than treat her pain. A second opinion indicated that immunotherapy might help her. She’s hoping for a cure, but she’ll settle for more time.
“Every day is a blessing when you have a family and you have kids,” BedfordHau said.