You may have seen posters around town for a benefit dinner scheduled for Saturday, February 22 at the Eldred Town Hall for Lenore Nizzico, a long-time employee of Peck's Market who is undergoing treatment for her second occurrence of cancer.

This highly respected and well-liked woman is the epitome of courage and grace under pressure that's for sure.

I had an opportunity to talk with her this week to find out how things are going. Lenore said she is feeling much better and the chemo seems to be working and her white blood cell count is high which is why she is so much better.

As a bit of history, she told me that 10 years ago she was diagnosed with Stage Two breast cancer and she didn't have the BRACA gene or any hereditary disposition for the disease.

She had surgery and took the prescribed follow-up medication for 10 years after her surgery. When the medication was stopped, as it should have been after a full 10 years, the cancer came back, this time as Stage Four.

Although she was disappointed, she is now getting chemo until June and then she will undergo immun-otherapy. Lenore said none of this is easy, but she is determined to be the most productive and healthy person for as long as she can be for her two daughters Sarah and Zoey and Keith, the best husband anyone could ever ask for.

Lenore is still working full-time at her job at Peck's Market and she said hasn't missed anytime and thankfully is working a flex schedule around her medical appointments and this is important because her family gets their health insurance through her employment.

“There are no great lessons to be learned here and you just need to power through it and do what you need to do” she told me.

Lenore said she has been so humbled by the support of the community.

“In all honesty, I feel incredibly lucky and if I didn't have so many friends and family and the generosity of the community as a huge and constant support network, I don't know what I would do. It's very tough for sure but I know I'm not alone as I struggle.”

Lenore told me how touched she was getting a card from the employees of the two local schools with $450. They had collected for her and the Facebook donations mostly from people she doesn't know of $5,000 - all of which will be saved for that “rainy day” when she isn't able to work.

“This is an amazing community with huge hearts and there are not words I can think of to adequately express the depth of my gratitude to everyone who helped me - honestly I'm so moved that words fail me.”

We spoke about the Meal Train - a concept I hadn't been familiar with. She told me she is pretty exhausted and run down after work and chemo and people have been going to Facebook's Meal Train and sign up under her name to provide a hot meal. There is a calendar and the person willing to cook can pick a day and then deliver the meal to Peck's or to Lenore.

“It has been a Godsend for me and my family,” she told me. “And now for the next month I don't need to worry about cooking dinner.”

My last question was whether she plans on attending the Pasta with a Purpose Dinner on February 22 at the Town Hall being held in her honor?

Lenore responded with a resounding ‘yes,' she will attend and is looking forward to seeing everyone.

For more information you can go to Facebook and sign up for the Meal Train or donate a gift certificate from a local restaurant.

If you cannot attend the dinner you may drop off a donation check made out to Lenore Nizzico - one of the true heroines of our community and we as a community must continue to extend our blessings to her and her family and hold Lenore in the palm of our hands!