MILWAUKEE — A Sussex woman is going to do Saturday's Fight for Air Climb in honor of her family.
Melissa Elsinger lost her mother and five other family members to lung cancer. A seventh family member had a lung transplant and is doing well.
"You get numb," Melissa says. "It's like how much more can one family take."
She gets emotional talking about her hardest loss, her mother Arnette. She passed away in 2016.
"She was my best friend, so I would see her every day and talk to her multiple times a day, and my daughter, too," said Melissa.
Her mother led a quiet, two-year battle, basically hiding her cancer from her family to protect them.
"When she went into that hospital we thought, OK, she's going to be coming home, and she never made it home," said Melissa.
Two other family members died within 24 hours of each other.
"You don't know until, you just kind of have to move forward and that's why I think it's so important for us to get involved and help and do our share," says Melissa.
Melissa and some of her cousins are getting together to do the Fight for Air Climb which benefits the American Lung Association. She knows her mother will be with her every step of the way.
The 12th Annual Fight for Air Climb is Saturday, March 7 at the U.S. Bank Center in downtown Milwaukee.
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