About Us - Alice Mazzola Breast Cancer Benefit

401 Barnwood Court
Round Lake, IL 60073
847-201-1430

2012
The 2012 breast cancer benefit will be held at The Nippersink Woods in Round Lake, IL. Sat, June 2nd at 12:00pm.

2011
This year we were able to donate $4,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2010
This year we were able to donate $5,500 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2009
This year we were able to donate over $6,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2008
This year we were able to donate over $5,500 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2007
This year we were able to donate over $11,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2006
This year we were able to donate over $7,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2005
This year we were able to donate over $8,500 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2004
This year we were able to donate over $11,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2003
We donated $4500 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2002
We were able to donate $2500 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

This site is dedicated to the loving memory of Alice Mazzola, and this was her journey. After discovering a lump in her breast, Alice was diagnosed with Breast Cancer that had also spread to her lymph system. The cancer was treated aggressively through performing a mastectomy and the removal of lymph nodes under the arm. The next phase of her treatment was chemotherapy. The good news was that the cancer went into remission, but her remission lasted not even 5 years.

In 1999, Alice started experiencing pain in her back. The doctors believed that she may have been suffering from muscle spasms or possibly gall bladder disease. However, after the pain persisted, she was sent for a full body scan, and to her dismay, the doctors discovered multiple tumors along her spine. Surgery was not an option, so the doctors chose to treat each individual tumor with radiation. While undergoing radiation treatments, they discovered that the cancer had then spread to her hip. Even though things looked glum, it finally appeared that the tumors were responding to the radiation treatments, and had begun to shrink. In addition to radiation, she was also undergoing additional chemotherapy treatments. Once again, things were starting to look up because the tumors had shrunk so much, that the doctors had predicted a long and healthy life. The only thing she would have to face were regular scans and possibly chemo/radiation therapy treatments every other year. She began to recover from the many side effects of the various drugs she had been taking, and was feeling positive about overcoming her disease.

Easter 2000 was going to be a beautiful day and we were all getting ready to go out for dinner as a family. As Alice was putting on her makeup in the bathroom, she began to feel dizzy, screamed for help, passed out, and began seizing. She was immediately rushed to the hospital where the doctors ran numerous tests. After completely scanning her body, the doctors determined that the cancer had spread to her brain. She was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. When she recovered from the seizure, the doctors removed the malignant tumor from her brain. She recovered remarkably well and was soon home enjoying her favorite food...ice cream! Even though this was a devastating set back, we were all optimistic that she would fully recover, of course, after more radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

More scans were taken of Alice's brain and the doctors soon realized that they didn't remove the entire tumor and she was to undergo a second brain surgery. Again, more radiation and chemotherapy treatments followed. Alice was now at the limit for radiation treatments, but by then, it was already too late.
The treatment for her cancer, the radiation, had begun to take its toll and started to deteriorate her brain. This deterioration began to make simple tasks excruciating and she faced her final days unable to care for her basic needs. Throughout those long eight years, there were many days she felt down or depressed, but she always managed to put smiles on peoples' faces, still always wanted that one last "taste" of a favorite dessert or frosty drink, and managed to fight to the very end. Alice enjoyed her last summer, but unfortunately, on August 7, 2001, she took her final breath.