This is the story of a one courageous, inspirational, spirit filled woman. Her name is Lorraine Fimmano,

In this letter you will read how she overcame so much and never once lost her faith, lost her sence of humor, or her courage to fight against every obstacle in life. She is the one inspiration in my life and I am so proud to call her my Mom.

It all started years ago when dad died and she was a young widow of 33 with four young children, all under the age of 12. She later went on to marry again, and have another son, however that marraige failed and she was now left with five children to raise on her own. She was a old fashioned Italian who really didn’t have a education to speak of but none the less raised all of us on her own to become all productive citizens with education and insight in life on how never to give up. Never to stop pushing ourselves to become what we wanted to be.

She went to work for Estee Lauder back in the late 70s and worked there till she was forced to retire early due to her illness and disabilities. She was diagnoised with empysema and eventually had to stop working totally and relied then on us to help her through her troubled life. All five of us kids came to Mom’s rescue to give her what she needed and to help her know that even without the ability to work; she was still the same strong powerhouse she always was. That even though she was disabled at this young time in her life that didn’t steal her drive, her wit, or willingness to keep fighting and be that inspirational guide she had been.

As years went by eventually some of us got married and rasied families and some of us just stood close to Mom and helped in anyway that we could. Four out of five of us live right here within miles of each other, all close to Mom to do whatever we could when she needed us.

In 1998 Moms breathing became more difficult. We went to the pulmonolgoist and he performed a few tests along with xray and low and behold he found a mass in her lung. We then went on to an oncologist and he stated that she was inoperable due to her lung disease with empysema. The chances of her ever getting off a ventilator after surgery were slim and we didn’t know what to do. How could this be, she was so young, she was only 62 by this time, and had so much to live for and so much life in her. Her grandchildren’s young birthdays, watching them grow, their graduations, her two sons still werent married yet, would she be here to see them walk down the isle? He stated that all she can do is Chemotherapy and had six months to live at best. We were all devastated and felt she was given a death sentence with no hopes of parole. All of us children were going to be faced losing our only parent left, and we didnt know how to handle this news. BUT not Mom, she knew, she said “what is to be will be”, she never let it get her down. She fought every day tooth and nail to prevail. After discussing her options which at the time was only chemo she allowed the Drs to administer this awful drug in hopes of preserving her life. However much time she had. BUT although the chemo works for others, Mom just declined rapidly, and we all couldnt bare to watch this. She suffered more with the chemo then she was doing nothing about the cancer. She developped blood clots and had to be hospitalized for treatment, her breathing became worse, and her weight droped to an all time low. She was weak, sick and curled up on a couch with no life in her and that spark that once flared in her eyes were gone. We had to stop this immediatly and leave her to live the rest of her life out with dignity and style which what she always had.

Mom started to bounce back, she started to feel herself again, even though this dreaded cancer was in her body. She began to eat again, and put some weight on but we all knew the time was coming close to that six month mark and we were all frightend and started to search for other modalities that could possibly be done for Mom.

At that time my brother in law was driving in his car when he heard this new procedure being done in Staten Island University Hospital Radio surgery, and a DR GIL LEDERMAN was performing this. He called my sister and in turn my sister got in touch with this Dr. We all went to bat for Mom at this time. We got her medical records to him right away and waited patiently to see if Mom was a candidate. Then we got that call, bring Mom in, DR. LEDERMAN wants to meet with her. Although Mom was apprehensive and tired at this point of trying things, we knew we had to give this a shot. We met with Dr. Lederman for a consultation and after discussing her medical history at length, and the procedure at length, he went right to work.

PROCEDURE

Mom started her radio surgery non invasive treatement right away. They started first with a body mold of Mom. The patient does not feel a thing except maybe a little anxiety which will vary I’m sure within each individual. After the body mold is made, they put her under a cat scan and they procede to adminster radiation to the affected area only. In conventional radiation , this would hit a large portion of good tissue as well as the bad, but with the new procedure, it only hits the bad tissue along with a slight mm of good around it. In hopes of just localizing it , shrinking it and keeping it at bay. This procedure was a miracle, it was painless, and Mom was able to return to work the very next day without any side affects. She did this for five weeks, once a week session of about a hour at a time. After the five sessions there was already remarkable shrinkage of the tumor that was in Mom’s lung. She then went for follow up cat scans every three months after.

OUTCOME

I am here to tell you first hand how the treatment worked for Mom. It is now Nov 2005, seven years later and Mom, after first hearing she only had six months to live by other Drs and conventional modalities, Mom is now in remission. Her latest catscan showed only scar tissue left in the area that was treated and her body is free of the cancer .

Although the empysema is taking her breath away, cancer is not something we are concerned about at this time.

If there is anything that I can do to get this word out, to tell you that when there is a Dr that is telling you there is no hope, to go live your life for you don’t have much time to left, before you give up and throw in the towel please seek out Dr Lederman’s new technology and no matter how far you have to travel for it, don't despair, give it a shot. AFTER all its your life we are talking about. You travel on vacations, you spend money in hotels and on planes and cars, dont you think your life is worth a trip to Cabrini Hospital for an evaluation to perserve your life.?!?!?!

Written by Laurie Locicero daughter of survivor Lorraine Fimmano

November 2005