Cindy grew up in the mountain surrounded small town of Chilliwack, located in British Columbia, Canada. She had one sister and many friends that adored her.
If you were to ask any of her friends how they felt about Cindy, her humour, jokes and smiles were her most prominent feature. Everyone just felt good around her!
Picture courtesy of Del Rio, Cindy's good friend
After highschool, Cindy joined basic training for the Reserves, where she met Brad for the first time. She also went back to school in 2003, making the Dean's List in her English course.
Cindy and Brad eventually caught up again through the military a few years later, started dating and, you guessed it, got married.
The newlyweds settled in Borden, Ontario in 2006 with Cindy's son Kaelan.
Life was great! But the young couple had other dreams transpiring as well.
Cindy and Brad wanted another child, however ran into fertility issues. They struggled for 7 years when they finally received the wonderful news... a baby was on the way!
The family was destined to move yet again, so they made their way to Petawawa, Ontario in 2007. Lena arrived in 2011. Cindy took on the role of stay at home mom, loving her children to pieces. You could tell how much her children were adored by her Facebook posts, keeping friends and family tightly in the loop every day.
Cindy just had a real zest for life. She had a wonderful sense of humour, keeping her friends in stitches! And why not? Life was an awesome ride! They had everything. A lovely home and a beautiful family.
The Nixons started to get the tug to move closer to the west coast where the rest of their families were, so they then got stationed to Cold Lake, Alberta in July 2012. Only one province away from family now!
They barely unpacked when Cindy started to feel ill. They had been planning a trip to BC to visit family, but quickly changed plans when Cindy ran into complications. On July 27 she went to get checked out.
They ran some tests and surgery was scheduled for August 7th with plans of a biopsy.
Shortly after, they informed the family she had Choriocarcinoma, a cancer that was very treatable. The doctors eased the families fears, and Cindy was scheduled for immediate chemotherapy.
Cindy being Cindy, she took everything in stride. Always smiling, always vowing to fight this beast and always had time to post a funny status on Facebook!
Good friends came for visits, keeping that beautiful smile going.
Cindy then started to joke about losing her hair and wishing for a pink wig. Well, lo and behold, friend Wendy had one promptly sent over and knowing Cindy, she was all over it!
Things started to get complicated fast though. Really fast. Cindy posted frequent updates so her loved ones could keep up with her dramatically changing statuses. Until she couldn't any longer.
Aunt Donna then fired up a post on her own Facebook requesting prayer, creating an enormous wave of immediate support. And the support grew and grew. Donna soon realized Cindy needed a special place online.
This is when friends Amy and Lisa joined in. Amy came up with the idea to share pictures to support Cindy, and together they decided on the facebook group, Think Pink for Cindy.
The premise? Supporters could come online and show their PINK in support of Cindy's fight.
Build it and they will come indeed. The flood of pink support started to pour in, mixed in with plenty of get well wishes and hospital updates.
Click
HERE for a Pink Think slideshow
But the hospital statuses went from stabilized to something went wrong within minutes over 3 days. There was barely room to breathe. Family stayed tight by Cindy's side while Donna updated Think Pink, requesting prayer while Cindy's faithful followers clung to every word and prayed HARD as the events unfolded.
And then the unthinkable happened on August 22, 2012.
How is this possible?! How can someone with a short 2 weeks of notice lose a fight we didn't even know was there? Cancer, you are relentless! Everyone just fell. They were just in shock.
Brad is now a sole parent of a 10 year old son and 14 month old daughter. And there's no doubt in my mind he will do an amazing job.
However reality is setting in. Dad must work to continue to pay the bills and will require childcare that offers overnighters as Brad's work takes him travelling on courses. Cindy didn't have life insurance.
And so it begins. A new life we all must adjust to.
How you can help
Prayer
We ask you to please hold this young family in your thoughts and prayers while they make their way through mourning and loss.
Donations
If you care to make a donation to help, you can check out the options
HERE.
Thanks so much for reading Cindy's story. It's our hope that we all can continue to Think Pink and help support others going through their own personal fights.
