PARSIPPANY — Nicole Coleman a 42-year-old mother of three and a professional child care specialist. She made a career out of her passion, dedicated to her craft; she sought out families with medically fragile (twins, triplets) managing the unexpected challenges that come with multiple children at the same time. The accolades that the families left after each job on care.com are a few stories that clearly describe her patience and natural kindness.
Aside from her love of children comes her infatuation, with butterflies. Butterflies have been a part of Nicole’s entire life. Nicole enjoyed anything with a butterfly on it. She went as far to have a tattoo of one on her arm and enjoyed the story of the butterfly.
Starting in mid-October Nicole began experiencing headaches. Her hair was very long, and she thought maybe it was time to donate her hair, so she did, 11” was donated to be used for a wig for cancer patients going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments. That was not enough to relieve the pain, so she went to the doctor and was given migraine strength medication and was sent home. The side effects of the medicine left her unable to carry out a typical daily schedule. Nicole was brought to the hospital a couple of weeks later, underwent a cat scan and shortly after, Nicole was diagnosed with butterfly gliomas, a form of glioblastoma, the same brain cancer that took the life of Edward Kennedy and John McCain. When the doctor explained to the family what was happening, the doctor described the tumor as if it was in a cocoon and now it’s spreading its wings like a butterfly. He recommended surgery which she never was able to recover and passed on Thanksgiving Day.
The celebration of life gathering was a great testament to my sister’s love for everyone and butterflies. The void Nicole’s departure leaves is tremendous, her brother Bradley set up a fundraising campaign. The campaign was able to collect over $20,000.00 from friends and family, but more donation is needed to help her struggling family.
The story has been covered in local publications like Parsippany Focus and TAPinto Roxbury. Given the local angle, holiday spirit, and touching story, your readers would be interested in this story. To see the campaign and story, click here.
