NEENAH (NBC 26) — A garage sale can be a good place for vintage finds, like old McDonald's toys or a baby carriage made in the '60s. But not every garage sale has quite the emotional heft as the one Jessica Kellison hosted over the weekend.
Kellison's mom, Susie Kidwell, was diagnosed in February 2022 with stage four lung cancer.
"She has went through three chemo treatments, radiation, she has now been diagnosed — it's moved to her liver," Kellison said.
This is not Kidwell's first bout with the disease.
She had her first battle with cervical cancer at age eighteen.
"I was diagnosed with cervix cancer; they had to go in and do laser, and they told me I couldn't have no kids. Well, then when I got 19, I got pregnant," Kidwell said.
She would go on to beat the odds another seven times, fighting off skin cancers and jaw cancer throughout her life.
"I'm a fighter; I'm not giving up yet," she said.
It's hard to accept that after all of that, she's hearing the word "terminal" from doctors.
“It's not being gentle. I'm not leaving gently,” Kidwell said.
But Kellison does have a gentle idea in mind. She wants to take her mother to Hawaii while she still has time.
“That's like me being able to see her in heaven. Like, her being able to be happy, and I get to see that, and I'll cherish that for the rest of my life,” said Kellison.
Kidwell said Hawaii has long been on her bucket list.
"I've always wanted to go to Hawaii. My dad was stationed out there, you know, so he was talking about it. And it was like, you know, it sounds like a beautiful place," Kidwell said.
She also said that travel has become the theme of her last years.
“If [cancer]'s going to go to travel in me, then I'm gonna travel and see some of the sights and get some of the memories with the kids," said Kidwell.
So, in order to make this dream a reality, Kellison pitched the idea for the garage sale.
“I don't want to just ask people for money. I feel that's kind of greedy. So, I wanted to come up with a way that we could make the money ourselves and still be able to go,” she said.
Her mom said that when she heard the plan, she offered up many of her own belongings to help.
“I was like, ‘Okay, well here's my storage. Go to my storage, get what I got, you know, that I brought, just sell it off.' You know, because I don't want to leave her stuck with everything. You know, there's a few things that, you know, she wants to keep, and the rest of it – let's just get rid of it," Kidwell said.
"It's just things, and you know, memories is what I'm after now, not material. It's memories,” said Kidwell.
The family has plans to go kayaking this weekend.
"They have to tow me half of the way because I'll get out there and get out of breath," Kidwell said. "We tried to go hiking and, you know, it might be a normal person a half an hour hike that takes us two to three hours, but they don't care. They're like, 'Mom, sit down; rest.'"
"I've been trying to stay active... because you know the old saying is: 'Once you stop living, you start dying.' And I don't want to do that yet. I'm not ready," said Kidwell.
The following weekend, the family will be hosting another garage sale. Among other items, they plan to sell their kayaks and a boat to try to reach their goal.
“According to the doctors, it's got to be within the next few months. So, I'm hoping within the next 30 days we can have our flights booked and be ready to go,” Kellison said.
They have also set up a GoFundMe link for anyone unable to attend the garage sales, or if you want to donate to the cause. The family hopes to raise at least $3,500 total, which will afford plane tickets and lodging for a four-day stay in Hawaii for Kellison and Kidwell.
