Kammerer Family
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Letter from Jodi Hunter in AMHS Alumni News
Letter by Jodi
Stacia Jennifer Hunter '90
AMHS Alumni News, March 2000
By Jodi Hunter
My beautiful sister Stacia passed away on May 29, 1999 (Memorial Day). She died in our mother's arms, with the rest of our family and some close friends hand in hand around her. Stacia lived a full and happy life. The most important thing to her was having fun with her family and friends. She had a love for life and spent her free time dancing, houseboating, camping, hiking, traveling, and eating cheeseburgers.
After high school Stacia went to Chico State for a year and then returned to complete her bachelor's degree in accounting at SJSU, where she graduated in December, 1996. In the previous year, prior to graduation, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 22. Stacia never missed a step and continued going to school and working as an intern at Waferscale Integration in Fremont, even while she was being treated with aggressive chemotherapy and radiation. After a year of treatment, she was cured of her breast cancer and she graduated from SJSU with honors. Upon graduation, Stacia was hired at WSI (a semiconductor firm in Fremont) as a financial analyst. Her professional career was just starting, and the CFO said she was a "whiz" with the numbers.
Just three months later Stacia was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most deadly brain cancer in the world. This was a new primary tumor, unrelated to her breast cancer. Stacia fought her brain tumor with all her might, submitting herself to several open brain surgeries and extensive radiation and chemotherapies, in a brave effort to live. She lived twenty-six months and became well-known at UCSF and Stanford for her fighting attitude and will to survive. Her favorite saying was, "today is a gift, that is why it is called the present." During her battle we lived life to the fullest. We danced on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, houseboated on Shasta Lake, and hiked the trails of Pinecrest Lake. We also took many weekend trips to Yosemite, Cayucos, Monterey and San Francisco.
My sister is the finest and bravest person I will ever know. She was an earthbound angel that never lost her glowing smile for even one minute. She was always concerned with helping others and making them smile throughout her ordeal. She taught everyone who knew her how to live with great courage, strength, and integrity. She toughed many lives during her twenty-six years on earth and she will be remembered for her grace and dignity.
A few weeks before Stacia died, we all witnessed a miracle. Stacia had been physically unable to speak or move for weeks. On May 1st she sat up and told me to bring everyone to her room, where she then told all of us that everything was ok, there was nothing to be afraid of, and that one day we would all be together again, dancing, in heaven. Stacia is now walking with the Lord in His Kingdom. Oh, what a day it will be when we are all dancing together again. We love ya, Stacia.
Stacia is survived by her parents, George and Linda, sister Jodi '93, brother David, boyfriend Eric, and godson Jordan.
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