Caldwell Family Battles Breast Cancer as a Team

The Smith family of the Caldwells is one of many local families who know breast cancer all too well. 

Matriarch Barbara Ann Smith, 72, started her battle with breast cancer 20 years ago as the mother of five children. Smith underwent surgery and treatment and things were quiet for a long time.

Now a grandmother of 14, she finds herself once again in what her daughter describes as “fight mode.”

“Every day is different, every visit is different,” Laurie Cavalieri explained about her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer a second time three years ago. Cavalieri calls her mother her best friend and lives across the street from her parents in Caldwell.

“Some [days are] great and we have a celebration lunch and some not so great that leaves an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, feeling more than helpless and quite frankly, useless,” she said.” 

But there is one way Cavalieri has found to be useful — by rallying together family members and friends to participate in the Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure.

Among the hundreds of teams that will run and walk at the sixth annual event on Sunday, May 5, at the Essex County South Mountain Reservation Complex in West Orange, will be Team Babs. The team includes Cavalieri’s brothers, sister-in-laws and other family and friends.  

“I have never been so driven to do something, been a part of something I feel so strong about and I hope you can donate and or join,” Cavalieri, team captain, writes on her fundraising page. “This is the only part of this disease I feel I can do something about.”

Cavalieri has raised more than $4,600 toward her $5,000 goal. But she says it’s about more than the money, which goes to breast cancer research and awareness.

“The more talking and sharing, the more support others feel they have,” she explained.

To support the Smith family, visit the Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure Team Babs page.