About Me

Born on September 21, 1960 at Good Samaritan Hospital on Flagler Drive located on the Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Attended Kindergarten at Pixie Private School, Lake Worth, Florida.
Attended First Grade at Mr. Sapp’s Little Red School House, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Attended Second Grade through Fourth Grade at Belvedere Elementary School, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Attended Fifth Grade at Greenacres Elementary School, Lake Worth, Florida. 
Attended Sixth Grade at Palm Beach Day School, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Attended The King’s Academy, West Palm Beach, Florida where I repeated Sixth Grade and then completed Seventh Grade to Twelfth Grade. 
September 1973 - Accepted Jesus as my Savior during a Chapel Service at The King’s Academy.  Unfortunately, my experience was a fire and brimstone .  My children accepted Jesus because of his love, grace and mercy, and not out of fear that they were going to die and go to hell if they didn’t accept Jesus as your Savior.
Attended Mercer University, Macon, Georgia from September 1979 through May 1980. Transferred to Auburn University in August 1980 and began pursuing a major in Organizational Management.
Graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management from Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama in June , 1983.
Married Timothy Lee Harrell on March 18, 1989.
March 27, 1993: Tess Morgan Harrell , our first daughter was born with beautiful auburn hair.
July 1994: we moved from 32 Ohio Road, Lake Worth, Florida to Richmond,Virginia to be closer to Tim’s parent’s, Arthur Lee Harrell and Marcia Creamer Harrell.  Tim, Tess and I lived with Tim’s parents on Weyburn Road in the City of Richmond for 6 months while we sold our home in Lake Worth and purchased a home at 8245 Halstead Road in the same neighborhood where Tim’s parents lived. Tim and his Dad completed extensive renovations to our home. 
August 24, 1995: Jenna Leigh Harrell, our second daughter, was born with dark brown hair.   October 1999: we moved from our home at 8245 Halstead Road to Tim’s parent’s new home on River Park Way, Chesterfield, Virginia while Tim and his dad, once again, did extensive renovations to our new home (old home built in 1967) at 2310 Wadebridge Road, Midlothian, Virginia  located in suburbs of Chesterfield County in an excellent school zone for the kids. August 10, 2000: Timothy Austin Harrell, our one and only son, was born.
October 2009: Tim began commuting via airlines to Naples, Florida for work.  He built a Spec home in Royal Harbor while also being a project manager for his brother, Arthur Jeffrey’s architectural firm, Harrell & Company Architects.
June 2011: Tess Morgan Harrell graduated from Midlothian High School and earned a 50% paid scholarship from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Art School, in Richmond, Virginia.
 June 2011: we listed our home for sale.  We had many showings, but not a single offer. August 21, 2011: we moved from Midlothian, Virginia to a rental home in Naples, Florida
.January 2012: Tess became a nanny for a family that resides on Monument Avenue near VCU.  The nanny position included furnished living quarters.  So, Tess was able to move out of her dorm.    The family has two boys, Aidan and T.J., whom Tess has become so attached to.   She loves them dearly!  
August 21, 2011 through February 2012: our home sat on the market never to receive any offers.   In mid February we were contacted by our realtor to see if we would be willing to rent our home to a couple who lived  in our neighborhood  that had just had an electrical fire.  We rented our house through the end of July.   Before the couple moved out they actually found a new tenant for us, a family that was being transferred from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Mid-November 2012: I began having horrible headaches, hoarseness, scratchy throat, fatigue, feeling tired, and having difficulties with my left side functions…trouble typing on the keyboard, etc. Tim, Jenna, Austin and I traveled to Bluffton, South Carolina and spent Thanksgiving with Tim’s parents.

                   After Thanksgiving, I was having more and more trouble with my left side functions and I had constant headaches.  I didn’t have a doctor in Naples so I had to find a doctor that was accepting new patients.  I finally was able to schedule a physical with Dr. Ruiz Noverra on December 5^th followed by blood work on December 6^th.  Dr.  Ruiz Noverra thought I probably just had a B-12 deficiency which was affecting my nervous system.

                    When the blood work results come back everything looked good.  So, Dr. Noverra referred me to a neurologist, Michael Finkel.  I scheduled an appointment with him on Monday, December 17th.  Dr. Finklel evaluated me and then ordered an MRI STAT.  I had the MRI immediately and then later in the afternoon Tim and met with Dr. Finkel to review the MRI results which were multiple tumors on my brain.  The brain tumors were secondary cancer.  Now, the next step was to find out where the primary cancer was located.   Dr. Finkel prescribed the steroid Dexamethasone taking 4 – 4 mg tablets each morning and Levetiracetam 500 mg. an anti-seizure medication  to be taken in the morning and evening.   After just 3 days of taking the steroid I had usage of my left side again and major relieve from the severe headaches.  But, after ten (10) days I had gained 15 pounds!

                    On December 18,  2012 I was evaluated by Dr. Wang of Premier Oncology  and I had swollen lymph nodes in my left armpit and the following day I  was evaluated by Dr. Michael Smith of Premiere Oncology and my lymph nodes were swollen on both sides of my neck .   Dr. Wang and Dr. Smith were thinking the primary caner was in the breast.  The following day I had a PET Scan .  The results came back with the primary cancer being in the right lung.   I had a lung biopsy on December 27.    Ten percent (10%) of lung biopsies experience a collapsed lung.  I was one of 10%.   I had to be admitted to Physician’s Regional Hospital to monitor my collapsed lung.  I had to have a numerous X-rays in the evening and then in the morning my right lung was fine. 

                    Dr. Smith prescribed 14 days of Radiation Therapy to treat the brain cancer.   Wednesday, January 2,  2013 was the first day of my radiation treatment , and i finished on January 21. Then, Dr. Wang prescribed Chemotherapy every three (3) weeks.  January 30th was my first chemotherapy  treatment (specifically, Carboplatin and Paclitaxel) via IV.  I was also given B-12 shot via IV along with the steroid D which is also an anti-nausea medication, and reduced me down to only having to take 2 my  also the steroid Dexamethasone 1 tablet AM ad 1 tablet PM. I am also on Levetiracetam. My most recent chemo treatment, they added Bevacizumab, or Avasin.