“She walks with me.” A tattooed message about Shawna Ziegler’s mother, Debi Cook, who died of lung cancer in 2015. It reminds Ziegler that her mother is with her every step of the way.
Battle Ground resident Shawna Ziegler joined American Lung Association representatives from all 50 states in Washington DC last March. Together, they lobbied for affordable health care and received $38.1 billion from Congress toward cancer research.
Battle Ground resident Shawna Ziegler will never forget the phone call that changed her life forever.
In Nov. 2012, her 51-year-old mother, Debi Cook, had been diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. Ziegler was eight months pregnant and couldn’t fly to their home in Missouri. She was devastated.
Six weeks after giving birth to a son named Daniel, Ziegler brought him to Missouri so that her mother could meet her grandson.
“The trip that should have been an amazing experience meeting her grandson for the first time turned into a trip of doctor appointments and chemotherapy treatments,” Ziegler said. “I remember the joy in my mother’s eyes holding my son for the first time. We sat and cried for hours. I had to pry him out of her hands when it was time for bed.”
Doctors told Ziegler her mother had less than two years to live. She was outraged when an oncologist said that cancer research in the midwest was two years behind where it was on the west coast. By February 2014, they had run out of treatment options is Missouri, so Ziegler’s parents moved to Washington to be closer with family.
“There wasn’t enough trials and treatments for my mom when she came out here,” Ziegler said. “The effects of the chemo and radiology were just too much for her to handle and her body just started shutting down.”
Ziegler’s mother fought on for a year longer than expected, but she died Aug. 26, 2015. In the aftermath, Ziegler contacted the American Lung Association and shared her mother’s story. As other members reached out to her, she realized she wasn’t alone in this struggle.
“Death isn’t an easy thing. It’s probably one of the hardest things to overcome. That monumental moment for me, after losing my mom, is when I had that understanding,” Ziegler said. “I didn’t really get to think about things when my mom was sick. It was constant appointments. And when my mom passed away, I realized, she’s not the only person in this world with cancer. There’s so much more advocating to do for so many other people.”
Ziegler became an American Lung Association representative for Washington state. In March 2018, she joined representatives from all 50 states in Washington DC. Together, they advocated for affordable health care and received $38.1 billion from Congress toward cancer research.
“It was a really great opportunity to be a part of something that was bigger than me and my story,” Ziegler said. “Losing my mom just kind of gave me that courage to stand up and fight and be a voice for people that don’t have a voice. Be the person to somebody that feels like they’re the only ones battling it or they’re going through it alone. To reach out and say you’re not.”
In May, Ziegler was the keynote speaker at the American Lung Force walk in Seattle. In August, Ziegler and her brother Khalvin Cook completed the 199-mile Hood to Coast Relay with 10 of their friends. Their team raised $10,000 for cancer research.
“I almost quit,” Ziegler recalled. “Two summers ago, I got meningitis and I almost lost my own life.”
She was in the hospital for eight days, needed surgery and still has nerve damage in one of her legs.
“I almost gave up. And then I was like, ‘No way! I’m doing this. We raised money and this was for an even bigger cause than just lung cancer.’”
If Ziegler needed inspiration, all she had to do was look down at her arm and see the tattoo that reads, “She walks with me.” It reminds Ziegler that her mother is with her every step of the way.
“I just looked down and remembered that she’s there and took that courage and strength and kept going,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler lives in Battle Ground with her husband Scott and 6-year-old son Daniel. Losing her mother when she was 33, Ziegler is doing all she can to be an inspiration to her son and others.
“It crushes me to know that he’s never going to know her,” Ziegler said. “I want him to know what happened to her and how it happened to her. I want him to be a voice. I want him to do something amazing and I want him to always have compassion for people.”
