A mother's miracle

Cancer survivor counts her blessings

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“I knew I always wanted to be a mom,” Maria Chiaramonte said. “I couldn’t wait to have babies and wanted a family right away.”

With the month of May comes budding flowers, warmer weather and, of course, one of the happiest days of the year — Mother’s Day. This Sunday marks a special day for mothers everywhere, including Chiaramonte, a Wantagh resident. For her, the day is filled with happiness, love and another year of being cancer-free.

“It’s a scary thing to hear that your biopsy is positive and that you have breast cancer,” said the 54-year-old Glen Cove native. “A lot goes through your head all at once, and all I could think about was that I had a daughter, and did the gene run in her, too?”

After two years of fighting Stage One breast cancer and receiving an emergency lumpectomy in 2014, Chiaramonte said she is blessed to be alive.

“I could have done chemotherapy, but as a personal choice, I decided not to,” she said. “Mine was a walk in the park compared to other cases.”

Although Chiaramonte had a hard time dealing with the disease, it was the support from her 22-year-old daughter, Nicole, and her 21-year-old son, Joseph, that helped get her though.

“I think we all learned to appreciate life and family just a little bit more,” Nicole said. “It puts into perspective what life would be like without her here.” 

The close-knit family is glad to be back together in good health. Maria looks forward to spending her days cancer-free and is very proud of her mothering skills.

“A lot of mothers think they have to always just be a parental figure to their children and not a friend,” she said. “I believe the opposite. I know my daughter is my friend. I know she’ll be honest with me and we have trust in each other. I was a firm believer in no lying, and I know they could always come to me and feel comfortable in telling me anything.”

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