A Quad-Cities mother is keeping her daughter’s memory alive in a new book.
Four years ago this month, Bettendorf native Lindsay Thul was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of breast cancer, at age 28. Less than 10 months later, she was dead.
Lindsay’s mother, Diane Koster – owner of Davenport’s Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge – honors her life and aims to educate others in a new book, “Lindsay’s Legacy: A Mother’s Memories.”
“It’s a story of hope and it’s a story of courage. And it’s a story of a relationship between a mom and a daughter, and it’s very educational about that disease, and kind of the different steps Lindsay went through with it.”
Lindsay was first diagnosed April 18, 2016 with stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer, which comprises just 1-to-5 percent of all U.S. breast-cancer cases. IBC progresses rapidly, often in weeks or months, according to the IBC Network Foundation, and is typically diagnosed at stage 3 or 4. It’s typically found in women in their 50s, not commonly picked up by a mammogram; doesn’t usually present as a lump in the breast, but rather as redness or swelling.
Lindsay raised money in a GoFundMe page, started the day she was diagnosed and wrote 82 posts about her journey until her death on Feb. 1, 2017. The web page was shared by more than 18,000 people and raised $93,000 from 541 donors.
“Something that she wrote in one of her posts was she hoped that someday, maybe some woman who was going through the same thing she was going through would come upon her writing, and realize that they’re not alone – that there’s other people that have gone through this.”
“She just felt like it would serve a purpose, either after she was cured or after she was no longer here. She kept the hope, obviously, through her illness that she would survive.”
Koster started writing the self-published book Feb. 1, 2019, and includes her commentary on each of Lindsay’s posts, with an introduction and postscript, on what’s happened since her death. Lindsay wasn’t afraid of her formidable battle and possible loss of life.
"She had really strong faith. She really dug in deep with her faith when she was sick. She read the Bible every day, and she believed this was God’s plan, and she just figured He picked her because she was strong enough to handle it and would make the most of it, as far as helping other people because it was such a rare disease – and educating people, getting the word out, using social media, and using the GoFundMe platform.”
Koster hopes her book can help and inspire others.
“I want to help save a life, if I can.”
Diane Koster and her book, "Lindsay’s Legacy: A Mother’s Memories.” It's available on Amazon.
