Morris Co. Mom Taken By Breast Cancer Always Put Her Kids First

HANOVER, NJ — If there was one thing you could say about Mary DelloRusso with certainty, it was that she was devoted to her two children and her community. The Parsippany native and Hanover resident was active with the Whippany baseball, football, and little leagues, the local Girl Scout troop, and worked as a school nurse assistant. And she did it all while battling stage three breast cancer.

Sadly, DelloRusso passed away on Aug. 17, 11 years after she was first diagnosed. She was just 47-years-old.

"She did all she could to be the best mother she could be, supporting her kids, and fighting her battle with cancer at the same time. Despite rounds of chemo, surgeries, and trying to heal from her loss, Mary put school, sports, and recreational events above everything because her greatest joy was being a mom," Deanna Marino Fox wrote in a GoFundMe set up to benefit DelloRusso's two children.

DelloRusso was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2007. Despite aggressive treatment, the cancer spread to 11 of her lymph nodes, Fox said.

Two years into her treatment, another tragedy struck the DelloRusso family: Mary's husband, David, died suddenly from heart failure. The couple's children were just 5 and 12 years old at the time.

After the loss of David, DelloRusso spent five years in remission, an obituary says.

"Although they struggled, Mary wanted her children to know what it was like to experience happiness, and most importantly hope, she was determined to show them that," Fox wrote.

"Even while raising two kids, and battling cancer, you still managed to do it all. I will take everything you taught me, and cherish it for the rest of my life. You deserve to be free, painless and most importantly with dad. Bella and I will make you both so proud. I love you with every piece of my heart mom," her son, Carman, wrote.

When she relapsed, the diagnosis was Stage 4 metastatic malignant neoplasm.

"Even with a terminal diagnosis, Mary did all she possibly could to extend her time with her children. I know they say that a person is only given as much as they can handle, but I believe that some situations can only be handled through the help of others," Fox said, writing that DelloRusso worried about how her two children, now in high school and college, would cope financially with the loss.

The community has quickly come to the children's financial aid in the form of a generous GoFundMe campaign. In just four days, $74,000 has been raised towards a $100,000 goal.

Friends on the GoFundMe shared sweet tributes to DelloRusso, saying she was a "beautiful soul that always thought of others before her own needs."

"She was truly a wonderful person and someone you were lucky to know. Mary could certainly make a gray sky blue," wrote one donor.

"What a gift to have known Mary. Beautiful, generous, one-of-a-kind who will never be forgotten," said another.

Image via GoFundMe, a Patch promotional partner