The Women are Fantastic Friday meme is curated by Sophie, of A Hole in the Fence. It gives us a chance to tell about the women in our lives who are encouraging us to have a "We Can Do It" attitude. Today I am telling the story of "Donna" and how she lived "one more day" for over ten years.

When I met Donna, it had been going on for eight years. She and I got to know each other one spring in Texas on a lake. They bought a little piece of property right outside the campground. Then she left to spend the summer away from the heat in the north.

Donna and her husband returned in the fall. And the brief respite from the year before was done. Her first visit with her doctor confirmed the worst. She had yet another brain tumor. So she began her ninth year since the first tumor with yet another round of meds and chemo and other forms of torture.

The church around the corner from the campground prayed her through just as they had year after year. They also prayed for Donna's daughters and always managed to send them some support as well.

Donna's daughters were missionaries in Africa. Their hearts were there with the people and their husbands and children. Donna's daughters worried over their mom and Donna worried over her daughters and grandchildren. But none of their prayers requested an easier way -- just another day.

In an amazing grace, the tumor receded. Donna and her husband managed another summer northern migration and found a driver to bring them back for the fall and winter and early spring in Texas.

When Donna returned, it was fairly clear. Tumors again. We were slowly losing Donna in her mind. Some days she was clear. Some days she was angry. Some days she was distant. And the little church around the corner prayed her through. And she was granted another day and one more visit with one of her daughters.

We left and went our ways. But we heard this and we heard that. Donna improved, she waned. She stuck it out. I know she reached the ten year anniversary in her battle and that she got to spend time with her other daughter and her family when they had some "leave time."

And then ... I lost track ... so you know how in my imagination my first grade teacher is still living -- on the coast of Washington, on an island, watching the seasons change? Well, I have an imagined story for Donna as well.

One day she and her husband found a little place where the summers weren't too hot and the winters weren't too cold. They stopped migrating to avoid the extremes. Donna had her mother's furniture removed from storage and sent to her. Donna's grandchildren came back to the states and lived with them and went to a nearby college.