A Life Full of Laughter and Love

“Funny,” “beautiful,” “loving” and “warm.” These are just some of the words to describe my mom, Diana “Dee” Bittner. And let’s be honest, you can also add “bold,” “brash” and “loud.” And she passed all of those traits down to her three daughters. (Ok, maybe I got the majority of the “loud.”) Her laughter was downright contagious and there was always plenty of it. In fact, when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in May of 2001, laughter was our best medicine. I’m sure we were told more than once to “keep it down” in the hospital and the infusion room.

Mom wasn’t complacent about her diagnosis. She did her research and tackled the disease head-on. She loved working with R.O.A.R! and the new friends she made. All of the women were people who understood what she was going through because –  as much as Dad, Amanda, Marlena and I wanted to help – sometimes it is the shared experience that makes things so much easier.  When Mom would lose a friend, she would be devastated because somewhere deep down my mom always had hope.

She was a true believer. She believed in her husband, Gary, and each of her daughters. She believed in her friends and her students at Hannah Penn Middle School, and she believed in all of her doctors and nurses. But most of all, she believed that some day we would find a better way to diagnose and stop this silent killer. R.O.A.R! and its awareness efforts were so important to her and they are still important to all of us.

Maybe that’s why when we lost Mom on April 4, 2004, we were a little shocked. I think her hope was as contagious as her giggles. You can never be prepared for what ovarian cancer takes away and what my mom missed, especially her three grandchildren Elia, Alex and Sasha.

So, tonight, if Mom could be here, she’d be the first to R.O.A.R! on the Floor – and not just because she was an awesome dancer – but because she would think the fact that Dad and I are attempting to ballroom dance is hysterical (trust me, we do, too)!  And she would be laughing, hugging and maybe even crying with all of you – her friends.

- Shannon Bittner Lopez (AKA Dee’s Loudest Daughter!)