All cancer patients face a difficult journey, and sometimes reaching the end of that journey is cause for celebration. At least that was the attitude of Amy Kleiner’s friends and neighbors, who threw her a parade to celebrate her last day of chemotherapy.
In January, Kleiner, 45, was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy and 20 sessions of chemotherapy.
When she finished her final round of chemo last week, Kleiner’s best friend and neighbor, Tera Kiser, wanted to do something special. So she organized a parade of Kleiner’s friends and neighbors to welcome her home from her last chemo session.
“The minute she pulled into the neighborhood we could have people there with signs just to celebrate her last treatment,” Kiser explains.
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Kiser spent four weeks planning the event, creating a secret Facebook page to get Kleiner’s friends and residents of her Cincinnati neighborhood on board.
“We all wanted to rally around her and support her on her very last chemo today, let her know that we all love her,” says Kiser. “She’s done awesome through this and just to come together as family, friends and community to let her know she’s not been fighting alone.”
When Kleiner pulled onto her street on her way home from chemo, she saw the street filled with her friends and neighbors, including the neighborhood’s kids, holding balloons and signs to welcome her home and celebrate the end of her chemotherapy treatments.
“When I opened my garage door and saw everybody I was just completely astonished,” Kleiner recalls. “The fact that I got to go and hug every single person out there and tell them thank you — I could have stayed out there all day.”
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Kiser also set it up for several people to release balloons to symbolize each one of her treatments. She then saved the final four balloons for Kleiner and her family to release.
“I still can’t believe this happened,” Kleiner said. “It was definitely something I’ll never forget.”